Dare to Dream
by noblecrescent
Summary: Being sent to Auradon is stressful enough for 5 Descendants but being sent to get the legendary wand truly drives things home. Shreya meets Elle, daughter of Princess Elena, her mother's enemy & of course they clash. As Prince Ben's coronation nears, the true enemy begins to rear in, & what Shreya discovers leaves her questioning her loyalties. Could there be a happy ending?
1. A Plan for the Isle

**Author's Note:** Hey! Hello! So this was a story published on a whim of an idea I had after watching both fantastic movies of Descendants. I love, love, love the movies and its stories so I decided to add in one more child of a canon princess that has (sadly) not been properly introduced. This child, a daughter, is my creation but her mother (who you'll learn about within the chapters) belongs completely to Disney. Along with the princess' daughter, I add one more villain & her child. The villain, again, belongs to Disney, but her daughter will be of my creation. Fair note that because this is going to include two OCs obviously some plots of the movie will be changed to fit my characters. For example, there will be no Mal/Ben pairing.

That's pretty much it for now, please leave a thought or a comment if you'd like!

* * *

 _Once upon a time, long, long ago - well, 20 years ago - Belle married her beast in front of 6,000 of their closest personal friends. Big cake. Yeah, so instead of a honeymoon, Beast united all the kingdoms and got himself elected King of the United States of Auradon._

 _He rounded up all the villains and sidekicks - basically all the really interesting people and he booted them off to the Isle of the Lost with a magical barrier to keep them there._

 _It's like the 'hood'. There's no magic, no wi-fi, and no way out._

 _But soon, perhaps there could be._

 _~ 0 ~_

"Elle!" a squeaky dark-haired girl came rushing up to another girl, this one with raven-black hair and dark eyes, by the lockers. "Ben is calling for you."

Elle was pulling out a book from her locker, and when the squeaky girl saw the title she produced an even higher-pitched squeak than imaginable, causing Elle to momentarily cover her ears. "Jane for God's sake!"

"Y-you always read those books," Jane pointed a shaky finger at the book in Elle's hands. "Why do you do that?"

Elle raised an eyebrow, briefly looking at the cover of the book as if this were the first time she was going to open it. "It's just history, Jane."

"B-but it's the history of the most notorious villains!"

"There's nothing wrong with brushing up on important history," Elle smirked and closed her locker door. "Plus, believe me, Ben asked me to do it."

"Wh-why?" Jane's eyes widened in alarm, causing Elle to laugh for a second.

"You'll soon find out, I imagine. Now, where is my bestest friend, soon-to-become-king Ben?"

"In his room, o-of course," Jane replied within the second. "I think he's being fitted for his coronation suit. And he also called for his parents."

"Oh, then I definitely want to be there when he tells them," Elle declared, leaving Jane confused as she had not elaborated more before leaving.

~ 0 ~

Elle's best friend, Ben, was indeed being fitted for his coronation in his room. He had been staring endlessly out the window when his parents, Queen Belle and King Beast, entered.

 _"_ How is it possible that you´re going to be crowned king next month?" his father asked with bitter-sweetness. "You´re just a baby!"

"He´s turning 16, dear," Belle reminded, but of course was sad to see that their son was growing up right before their eyes.

Ben just sheepishly smiled at them. "Hey, pops."

"16?" Beast was still in denial and thus ignored his son's greeting for the moment. "That´s far too young to be crowned king. I didn't make a good decision until I was a least 42!"

Belle raised an eyebrow. "Uh, you decided to marry me at _28_."

"Ah, it was either you or a teapot," Beast winced when Belle's eyes narrowed on him. "Kidding!"

"Mom, Dad..." Ben tried to move when his tailor, Lumire, stopped him, warning him not to do it again lest he wanted to be poked. Still, Ben's parents stopped their bantering and turned to him. "I've chosen my first official proclamation." His parents beamed at the news and waited anxiously to hear what it was he'd chosen to do. Ben had an internal bet with himself to see how quick his parents would lose that giddiness after he told them of his idea.

 _Probably five seconds,_ he thought.

"I've decided that the children on the Isle of the Lost be given a chance to live here in Auradon."

 _2 seconds_ , Ben then thought after his parents' nearly fell back with the news. Even his tailor had frozen in his work after the news. Thankfully, at that moment, Elle knocked on the open door and walked in.

"Hello," she did a curtsy bow for the King and Queen. "Your majesties." She noticed, however, their expressions, along with the tailor, were not that of usual Auradon cheeriness. _He told them_ , she thought.

"I just told them, Elle," Ben informed her like she hadn't already caught on.

"You knew about this, Elle?" the King turned to the girl.

"Yeah, I looked into the villains' history," Elle waved the book she'd been carrying from her locker. "Ben asked me to help him choose five."

"Ben!" Beast then turned back on his son. "You even got Elle working on this ridiculous plan?"

Ben was expecting this sort of reaction and was therefore might prepared to argue about it. "Every time I look out to the island, I feel like those have been abandoned-"

"The children of our sworn enemies? Living among us!?"

"We start out with a few at first-" Ben raised a hand to calm down his father, showing him that he wasn't just going to bring strangers without a proper plan, "-only the ones who need our help the most. And I've already chosen them."

"With proper research," Elle added for his sake, but apparently it didn't quite matter for the King.

"Oh, have you?"

Belle, on the other hand, seemed to be a little more lenient with the idea. "I gave you a second chance," she reminded her husband. "Who are their parents?" she asked Ben.

Ben exchanged a quick look with Elle who nodded encouragingly. With a small breath out, he answered his mother's question. "Cruella De Vil...Jafar...Evil Queen...Shuriki...and Maleficent."

The tailor yelped at that last one, as did Ben's parents.

" _Maleficent_?" Beast repeated. "She is the worst villain in the land!" he then shot a look at Elle, seeming incredulous. "What would your mother say if she knew you agreed with Ben to help bring back Shuriki's daughter?"

"I honestly don't know about that," Elle responded nervously. "But I know that if I told my mother exactly what Ben told me, then she would be proud."

The answer was not pleasing.

"Dad, just hear me out here!" Ben pleaded but his father shook his head.

"I won't hear of it! They are guilty of unspeakable crimes!"

"Dad, their children are _innocent_ ," Ben explained, thinking nothing but logically, and humane. "Don't you think they deserve a shot at a normal life?" Beast denied an answer for a couple of seconds. "Dad?"

Beast glanced at his wife beside him, and with a warm smile from her part, he had to give in. "I suppose...their children _are_ innocent."

"Well, well done," Belle praised her son, and even Elle. She then linked arms with her husband and motioned him to leave with her. "Shall we?"

Elle held her breath in until the King and Queen were gone. "Oh my God that went..."

"As expected?" Ben finished for her, returning to to the measuring podium where the tailor continued his work, albeit now a little more slow from his horror of Ben's idea.

Elle shared a laugh with Ben. "Something like that, yeah." She sobered from the laugh and walked over to the open window where they could get a clear view of the Isle of the Lost. She set the book on the window pane and sighed, her hand reaching for an oval-shaped pink amulet with a thin, silver chain sitting on her neck.

"Your mother would be proud, you know," Ben called after her. Elle glanced back at him, an indescribable look on her face. "I'm sure of it."

"I would think she is," Elle finally agreed with a hint of a smirk on her lips.

~ 0 ~

The Isle of the Lost failed in its dull colors against Auradon's preppy shades. The only thing that shined were the rusty metal serving as buildings and other makeshift tools for the markets. Tattered curtains separated several stalls, while others divided actual homes. Thick smoke covered most of its sky, though still allowed some view at Auradon across the ocean.

An older woman with long, black hair, and green eyes, overlooked the slums of the Isle with heavy distaste - it was nothing unusual for her. Her daughter, a light-skinned girl with dark brown hair and matching dark eyes, stood beside her. Unlike her mother who was focused on what she hated most about the Isle, the girl was paying attention to the singing and dancing the most notorious teens of the Isle were giving. She loved it. Unfortunately, her mother did not. She abhorred music.

"Maleficent, your daughter is at it again," Shuriki announced to one of their 'roommates' in the room. "Go get her and the rest of the little gang already."

Maleficent was not one to take orders from anyone, but on this occasion, as they all were on board with their plan, she went to collect her daughter and friends.

"Shreya, follow, now," Shuriki ordered her daughter and strode down the room to gather with the rest of their roommates. Shreya followed silently behind her mother, used to taking orders like a dog from her. Shuriki plonked her daughter down on the chair at the end of the table, across the Evil Queen who was busy doing her make up as usual. "There is news, my darling!"

Shreya crinkled her nose at the choice of words of her mother, going as far as mouthing 'darling' in a questioning way. Her mother hardly ever showed affection for her. "What kind of news?" she asked after a moment, however Shuriki did not answer as Maleficent was leading the rest of the teens into the room.

"Right on time," Shuriki smirked at them all. "Have you told them?" she asked Maleficent who shook her head.

"Told us what?" a disinterested, purple-haired girl asked. Mal looked up at her mother, Maleficent, expectantly.

Maleficent smirked, matching Shuriki's expressions. "You five-" she pointed at the teens, "-have been chosen to go to a different school...in Auradon!"

There were various reactions in the group of teens. The two boys, a bleached-blonde and a taller brunette nearly ran out of the room had it not been for the tall brunette's father, Jafar, blocking the way.

Mal had gone in terrible shock, horrified at the idea. "What? I'm not going to some boarding school filled to the brim with prissy pink princesses!"

A blue-haired girl, Evie, nearly went heart-eyes with the news. "And perfect princes?" Mal, and even Shreya, had given her sharp looks, making Evie take back her words. "I mean, eugh!"

"There has to be some mistake," Shreya stood up from her chair but her mother pushed her back down. "They would never just pick us for no reason!"

"Plus, I don't do uniforms. Unless, it's leather," the tall brunette, Jay, flexed an arm. "You feel me?"

The bleached-blonde, Carlos, moved forwards with a raised finger. "I read somewhere that they allow dogs in Auradon. Mom said they're rabid pack animals who eat boys who don't behave."

As he spoke, Jay snuck up behind him and went, "Woof!" Carlos smacked Jay on the arm in return.

"Yeah, mom we're not going," Mal declared and everyone else nodded.

"Same here," Shreya crossed her arms.

"Funny, you all thought you had a choice in this," Shuriki laughed. "Really, we should be all disappointed we haven't thought of the bigger picture: world domination!"

All of the parents, now joined in by Carlos' mother, Cruela De Vil, laughed along with Shuriki.

"You will go," Maleficent stopped laughing suddenly, pointing at her daughter. "You will find fairy godmother and you will bring back the magic wand. Easy peasy."

Mal looked at the rest of her friends who were all on the same page despite not talking out loud. "What's in it for us?"

"Matching thrones. Hers-and-hers crowns!"

"I'm pretty sure she meant _us_ ," Shreya gestured.

"It's all about you, baby! Do you enjoy watching innocent people suffer?"

Mal knew that while her mother had asked the question for them all, it was really expected that _she_ answer it. "Well...yeah, I mean...who doesn't?"

"Well, then get me the wand and you and I can see all that and so much more. And with that wand and my scepter, I will be able to bond both good and evil to my will!"

" _Our_ will," the Evil Queen reminded while still looking into a compact mirror. Behind her, Jafar and Cruela De Vil pointed in agreement. Shuriki just rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Our will, our will," Maleficent amended and snapped her fingers so that Mal could get back on track. "And if you refuse, you're grounded for the rest of your life, missy."

Mal frowned, as did the rest. "What...mom..."

"Okay but Mom-" Shreya stood up again only to have Shuriki push her down once more. Shreya groaned. "You already had a wand and need I remind you how that went?"

Shuriki balled her fists in raw anger. "Of course I remember!"

Shreya winced at the sharpness in her mother's tone. As Maleficent continued to speak with Mal and the others, Shreya got up and followed her mother back to the open window. "Mom-"

"You and I both know that even if my wand had not been broken its magic would still not work on the Isle."

Shreya nodded. "Yes, I understand that, but-"

"But what?" Shuriki turned to face her daughter.

"...a new school?" Shreya suddenly showed her concern, something Shuriki wasn't quite fond of. "A new school full of the children that probably grew up despising us as much as we despise them?"

"You're not there to make friends, Shreya. You are there solely for Fairy Godmother's wand. With that wand we can break the barrier of the Isle and I can fix my own wand with it."

"Or you could take that wand as your own...?" Shreya suggested, something that delighted her mother for once.

"Yes!" Shuriki said, showing pride. "Now you're thinking like a villain!"

Shreya beamed. "Okay, so we get the wand and get it back here. Got it."

"Just one thing," Shuriki raised a finger, captivating her daughter's attention, "It's important that you remember. You'll probably be meeting the stupid daughter of my sworn enemy at some point..."

"Elle?" Shreya remembered the name from one of the news broadcasts.

"Yes," Shuriki nodded, eyes flickering to Auradon's view. "I've no doubt Princess Elena has handed down her amulet to her daughter. That amulet is your downfall, Shreya. It holds the power to lock you inside at the wearer's request, along with many more powers. You need to stay away from it. Don't let it touch you under any circumstances do you understand?"

Shreya's dark eyes had widened as she nodded her head. "U-understood."

Shuriki smirked. "Then it seems we have nothing else to talk about. Next time we speak, I would like to hear that you have the wand. Elena and her precious daughter will soon suffer."

Shreya nodded once more and glanced at the rest of her friends who seemed to be matching her expressions: utter fear of their parents' wrath should they fail.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** First chapter finished and I really hope it's caught your attention enough to favorite and/or alert! I would like to go ahead and clarify (now that you've read it) that Princess Elena & Shuriki are part of Disney's _Elena of Avalor_ and thus completely Disney's creation. There will be modification to Elena's story in order to fit it with this story!

As for Shreya (whose name is pronounced as Shrai-yah) and Elle's visual references, I have not decided on the actresses but will soon. In the meantime, Shreya will be described as a girl with light skin, dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. Elle is a taller girl with raven-black hair and dark eyes to match.


	2. Crossing to the New World

**Disclaimer:** Once again, Princess Elena & the villain Shuriki (along with the rest of the Descendants characters) are Disney's creations, not mine. I only claim Shreya and Elle as my characters.

Also, I've chosen visual references for Shreya & Elle.  
Shreya will look like the youtuber _**Bethany Mota**_ with light skin, wavy dark brown hair going past her shoulders and dark brown eyes.  
Elle will be like the actress _**Olivia Torres**_ with wavy, black hair, dark eyes and a bit taller than Shreya.

* * *

Shreya wearily eyed the black limousine waiting for her and her friends to come down. They were to leave for Auradon in five minutes, and so far she was the only one ready. That was, however, her mother's doing. Shuriki had already planned everything and packed her daughter's belongings way before Shreya had even learned of the plan. Upstairs, she could hear Mal's constant complaining about the new move, Evie and her mother conversing over how to trap a Prince in the most effective way, and Carlos' mother shouting for the boy. She wondered where Jay was…

Shreya was almost shoved to the side against the wall when Jay zoomed past her for the limousine. "HEY!" the girl called after him.

Jay snickered and knicked off a piece of gold from the limousine. "Let's get this party started, eh Shreya?" he tucked the gold piece in his pocket.

"Next time a heads up would be nice," Shreya accommodated her tousled hair behind her shoulders.

"Carlos! Come!" they heard Cruela still calling for her son. Almost like Jay, Carlos ran past Shreya (nearly knocking her again) towards the limousine.

"The hell with you two!" the girl stomped to the side.

The Evil Queen came down with Evie. "Who is the fairest of them all?"

Evie smiled dreamily. "Me."

"Ah?"

Evie blinked and pointed at her mother. "You. I meant you."

Shreya rolled her eyes and instead decided to head up to the limousine. The driver was waiting by the open trunk to take care of the bags. Shreya handed him her suitcase, mumbling a 'thank you' which earned herself a rather odd look from the driver in return.

"Shreya!" her mother was now downstairs, along with Maleficent. The girl scurried back.

At the same time, Mal was beckoned over by her mother.

"You remember the plan?" Shuriki asked her daughter skeptically, like it had all vanished from Shreya's head.

"You drilled it in," Shreya responded sarcastically. "We got the jist."

"The future of the free world rests on your shoulders," Maleficent warned Mal, probably adding another heavy layer of pressure for the girl. "Don't blow it."

"And remember what I said about the amulet," Shuriki tapped Shreya on the neck. "One touch and it's game over. Am I understood?"

Shreya nodded, and she and Mal turned away. "Our mothers could run for best mothers of the year," Shreya muttered to Mal who responded with a smirk.

"Carlos!" Cruela continued to shout for her son who refused to go back to her side. "Ingrate!"

Shreya smirked, close to snickering as Carlos clambered into the limousine. "Not even a goodbye?"

"Bye-bye," Carlos waved but of course being inside the car meant his mother couldn't see it.

"Bring home the gold!" Jafar called to Jay.

"Bring home a puppy!" went Cruela.

"Bring home a prince!" Evil Queen reminded.

Mal closed the door to the limousine as fast as possible. It was such a relief for all the kids to get away from their parents and their incessant nagging about the wand. No one had even bothered to give them some advice to deal with the Auradon students.

Evie had taken out her blush brush and leaned over to Mal. "You're looking a little washed out. Let me help you out."

Mal crinkled her nose and swatted Evie's hand away. "Ew, stop. I'm plotting."

"Well, It's not very attractive!" Evie sighed and shifted to Shreya, offering her a touch up but Shreya shook her head.

"Oh!" Carlos exclaimed. He and Jay had discovered the multiple sweets on the side. "These! It's salty like nuts, but it's sweet!"

"Let me see!" Jay snatched the candy off Carlos' palm and dropped them into his mouth.

Even Evie had put down her make up to pick up a blue, rock candy lollipop. Shreya laughed when the girl tried to right out bite it and failed. "It's hard! What is this?" Evie scowled at her popsicle.

"Who cares - what is _that_?" Shreya had spotted some dark-colored candy sitting besides the peanuts.

"Chocolate!" Jay smirked and handed over a piece to Shreya.

"Is it really?" Shreya took a small bite and instantly felt the warmth chocolate was meant to give. They didn't have it on the isle but they had learned about it. It was meant to be such a common snack for Auradon residents. "Oh my God this is so good!"

Mal took no interest in any of the sweets. She instead found a small remote control and of course clicked a button. The window separating them from the driver's seat slid down. As soon as they could see ahead, they saw the limousine was heading straight for the edge of the isle.

"It's a trap!" Mal panicked, as did the rest.

They closed in on the edge but instead of falling over, the barrier opened up and the limousine drove over a golden bridge created by, no doubt, magic.

"What just happened?" Jay looked out the window, as did Evie.

"It must be magic," Shreya concluded and leaned back on her seat.

"Hey," Mal tapped the empty window divider to get the driver's attention. "Did this little button-" she waved the control, "-just open up the magic barrier?"

"No, this one opens-" the driver raised a small control, almost identical to the one Mal had, "-the magic barrier. That one-" he indicated to the control Mal held, "-opens my garage. And this button…" he pressed a button near the limousine ceiling and started the window divider back up.

"Okay…" Mal pressed her lips together as they watched the divider slid up. "Nasty." A smirk spread across her face as she shifted to face the rest of her friends. "I like that guy."

"Probably the only person we're going to like in this place," Shreya muttered.

There, everyone had to agree.

~0~

It wasn't long before the limousine stopped for good. Even before the doors opened, the teens could hear a massive music serenade outside.

"Would you stop - AH!" Shreya had been pushed against a wall in the car by Carlos who was having yet another fight with Jay over who got to take what from the limousine.

"C'mon," Mal shook her head and opened the door. She pulled Evie with her and Shreya had to basically go _over_ Carlos and Jay as the two were entering some sort of new bickering round.

As soon as she stepped out, Shreya was met with bright colors of greens, blues and yellows! There was even a sunny sky above them, no hint of smoke threatening to invade it like the Isle. Of course her eyes trailed over the statue of the King propped up ahead of them. Mal eyed with dislike the band playing on the side and wished she could start using that spell book on them to make shut up. Evie was smiling in her usual dreamy way at the elegant building serving as Auradon Prep. Meanwhile, Shreya had spotted a middle-aged brunette woman wearing a baby blue dress, with a large pink bow on her chest, basically waiting for them. Behind her stood a teenage couple by the looks of their interlocked arms.

"You got everything else!" Carlos' accusation broke the three Isle girls from their thoughts. "Why do you want whatever this is?" Jay fell from the car holding multiple objects in his arms, none of which were his. Carlos was trying to pull a specific device from Jay's hands.

"Cause _you_ want it!" Jay retorted with a smirk.

"Give it to me!"

"Ow! Let go!"

Shreya rubbed her temples. Those two gave her headaches all the time. Even the band had suddenly stopped to watch the two go at it.

"Guys, guys, guys," Evie's soft voice was barely enough to pull the two boys from their argument.

"We have an audience," Mal hissed, and strongly.

Jay and Carlos looked over to the three awaiting Auradons waiting.

"Just cleaning up," Jay flashed an innocent smile at them.

"Get up," Shreya ordered them through gritted teeth.

"Leave it like you found it!" went the middle-aged woman, revealing to have a unique, higher-pitched voice. "And by that, I mean just leave it."

Jay and Carlos got up and begrudgingly threw everything they'd taken back into the limousine. Soon after, they finally noticed they were being intensely watched by the others.

"Hello, foxy," Jay had laid eyes on the light-skinned girl standing beside the dirty-blonde boy. "The name's Jay."

The girl was clearly disgusted by the attempt to flirt with her.

Shreya yanked Jay back. "You don't waste time, do you?"

"Welcome to Auradon prep," the older woman greeted the Isle teens who'd lined up. "I'm fairy godmother, headmistress.:

Everyone had frozen.

" _The_ fairy godmother?" Mal raised an eyebrow. "As in, 'Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo'?" she made a hand motion waving an imaginary wand.

"Bibbidi-bobbidi. You know it," the woman leaned forwards, pointing at Mal.

"Yeah, I always wondered what it felt like for Cinderella when you just appeared out of nowhere…" Shreya wondered honestly, "...with that sparkly wand and warm smile."

"That was a long time ago," Fairy Godmother waved it off. "And as I always say, 'don't focus on the past or you'll miss the future'."

"Easy to say when you lived in Auradon and got the happy ending someone decided they all deserved," Shreya smiled sweetly. Her friends agreed with darkened glares at the Auradons.

At the awkward-filled atmosphere, Ben moved forwards to greet the Isle teens. "It's so good to finally meet you all. I'm Ben-"

The girl who'd stood beside him chimed in with an overly perky face. " _Prince_ Benjamin. Soon to be king."

Evie rushed to greet him first. "You had me at prince! My mom's a Queen, which makes me a princess!" she did a small bow in the process.

"The Evil Queen has no royal status here and neither do you," the perky-faced girl, who'd gone sour in the next second, snapped. Evie's smile faded and, flushed, stepped back.

"Technically her mother's the one with no status. But-" Shreya gave a tilt of her head, "-since you're all about making the children pay for their parents' sins none of you would care."

The girl's face contorted into pure annoyance. Ben and Fairy Godmother were once again feeling that tense air.

"Hi!" a second girl's voice called, making everyone look behind the Auradons to see Elle walking towards them. "Am I late?"

Shreya spotted a pink amulet on Elle and immediately withdrew from her spot. She stepped back to where Mal and Evie were. The girls had noticed the amulet sitting on Elle's neck and stiffened.

"No, you're on time," Ben led Elle to the group, and Audrey inched on Ben's other side. "This is Audrey-"

" _Princess_ Audrey," the girl clarified. "His girlfriend. Right, Bennyboo?"

Elle cleared her throat. "We get it, Audrey. I'm Elle, Ben's to-be-counselor when he becomes King."

"Ben, Audrey and Elle are going to show you all around," Fairy Godmother explained. "And I'll see you tomorrow. The doors of wisdom are never shut.  
But the library hours are from 8:00 to 11:00. And as you may have heard, I have a little thing about curfews."

The Isle teens were not amused and watched the woman leave them behind. Ben moved forwards to shake hands with every single one of the Isle teens.

"It is so, so, so good to finally me...meet you all," he had stopped when Jay unnecessarily punched Ben on the chest. The rest of the Isle teens barely contained their snickering. "This is a momentous occasion, and one that I hope will go down in history…" he had shaken Carlos' hand that still had chocolate. Ben pulled his hand back and looked at his fingers. "Is that chocolate?" Carlos looked away and Ben shook hands with Evie next. "As the day our two peoples began to heal."

"Is this before or after we-" Shreya gestured to her friends, "-forget how screwed over our lives have been?"

"How'd that rehearsed speech go?" Mal rested an arm over Shreya' shoulder, both girls wickedly smirking as Ben tried to gather up some new response.

"That obvious?" Ben chuckled as he shook hands with Mal.

"Very," answered both girls.

"Hey!" Audrey cut in, eyes landing on Mal. "You're Maleficent's daughter, aren't you?" Mal's playfulness vanished. "Yeah, you know what? I totally do not blame you for your mother trying to kill my parents and stuff. My mom's Aurora. Sleeping..."

"Beauty," both Mal and Audrey finished.

"Yeah, I've heard the name," Mal swallowed down the urge to spell the girl right there and then. Instead, she mocked Audrey's sarcastic tone from before. "You know, and I totally do not blame your grandparents for inviting everyone in the whole world but my mother to their _stupid_ christening."

Audrey's face hardened but she kept it in. "Water under the bridge."

"Totes!" Mal continued mocking her.

"Okay! So, how about a tour?" Elle stepped in, and missed Shreya moving closer to Mal's side in order to evade the amulet. "Auradon prep, anyone?" she made a pleading look to Ben. Both knew that while Audrey was, in reality, a good person she did have some attitude that would inevitably clash with the Isle teens.

Ben cleared his throat and motioned for the others to follow them. As soon as he turned away, Audrey linked arms with him and sent a glance back at the Isle teens. Ella gave a warm smile and went right after the pair.

"Auradon prep, originally built over 300 years ago and converted into a high school by my father when he became king," Ben stopped them around the statue of his father. He clapped his hands and the statue morphed into the King's Beast version. Carlos gasped and jumped back, into Jay's arms. "Carlos, it's okay." Jay let Carlos drop to the ground. "My father wanted his statue to morph from beast to man to remind us that anything is possible."

"If you live in Auradon," Shreya muttered to Mal and Evie who agreed with hums.

"Does he shed much?" Mal smirked and caused the rest of the Isle teens to laugh.

Audrey shot them looks of offence but Ben laughed alongside them. "Yeah, mom won't let him on the couch!"

"So you guys have a lot of magic here in Auradon?" Shreya asked, hoping to sound simply curious of the matter. "Like wands and things like that?"

"Of course," Elle was the one to answer. "It all exists but it's also pretty much retired. Most of the students here are just ordinary mortals."

"Who happen to wear magical amulets as an accessory?" Mal shot for Shreya's sake. Elle's hand instinctively came to lay on her pink amulet. "I'm a little curious, actually..."

"Mal," Shreya whispered to her friend but it wasn't going to be enough.

"I mean, you do know who all are, right?" Mal gestured specifically to Shreya. "You know who _she_ is?"

Elle gave a small nod of her head. "I _helped_ choose who came. You're Shreya..."

"Daughter of your mother's worst enemy," Shreya finished, crossing her arms. "What was this supposed to be? Some sort of charity, then? Or to just rub in all the fortunes I'm sure all of you have?"

It was a fairly good question that did leave the rest of her friends curious. Why go through so much trouble for a couple of Isle teens? It didn't make any sense.

"The idea was to give you a _chance_ ," Ben was the one to answer, hoping to ease all of their suspicions. "Elle and I came up with the idea and we wanted to try it on you five first and then, hopefully, expand the idea."

He, Audrey and Elle lead the Isle teens into the building. Inside there was an eloquent air that immediately made the teens feel out of place. Two sets of staircases lined the sides of the room with hallways on either sides.

"Doug?" Elle began to call, walking backwards and looking up at the second floor. "Doug, come down!"

A tall, dirty-blonde haired boy wearing glasses, holding a clipboard, hurried down the stairs. Elle led the boy up to the group with a hand on his arm. "This is Doug. He's going to help you with your class schedules and show you the rest of the dorms."

Doug gave an shaky wave of his hand...until he saw Evie.

"We'll see you later, okay?" Ben said, indeed getting ready to leave. "And If there is anything you need, feel free to..."

But Audrey cut in once again and pulled Ben back beside her. "Ask Doug," she finished in a rather warning voice. "Or Elle."

Elle rolled her eyes at the girl. "I think I'll stay here and help Doug."

"Perfect," Audrey beamed. She then quickly led Ben off somewhere else, probably far away from the group.

"Sorry about that," Elle apologized to the Isle teens after Audrey and Ben were gone. "I promise you Audrey is nice and all but the whole idea of, um...your..."

"Presence?" Mal offered.

"Yes! Um, it's all a bit out of the ordinary," Elle awkwardly cleared her throat and nudged Doug to speak up.

"H-hi guys. I'm Dopey's son. As in Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, and..." but Doug once again glanced at Evie and felt like he'd run out of air, "Hi-ho..."

Elle rubbed her forehead and sighed lightly.

Evie loved getting the attention and moved towards Doug. "Evie. Evil queen's daughter."

Doug's eyes lit up like fireworks, much to everyone's amusement. Elle dropped her hand to her side and cleared her throat. "Class schedules?"

"R-right!" Doug snapped back to reality and looked down at his clipboard. "O-okay. So about your classes, I, uh, put in the requirements already..." he swallowed hard when Mal and Shreya came to stand on either side of him to look at the clipboard.

"Doug, continue," Elle waved a hand.

Doug cleared his throat and started again. "Among the classes are History of woodsmen and pirates, Safety rules for the Internet, and, uh, remedial goodness 101."

Mal smirked. "Let me guess. New class?"

Doug glanced to Elle for some help. "I can show you to your dorms right now, ladies. Doug will show Jay and Carlos to theirs."

"We can find them on our own, thanks," Mal swiftly turned on her heels and headed for the nearest staircase, prompting everyone else to follow.

Elle exchanged a look with Doug, the latter still overly nervous. "Mm, guys?" Elle stopped them midway. "Your dorms are this way," she gestured to the hallway on their left, and _downstairs_.

Doug couldn't believe he'd forgotten his own uncle's name and so decided to go off the list once more while the others came back downstairs. "Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, and..."

"C'mon," Elle ushered Evie, Mal and Shreya down the hallway.

"Sneezy," Carlos clapped a hand on Doug's shoulder.

"Sneezy!" Doug groaned, now thinking it should have been obvious.

~ 0 ~

"So, normally dorms are for two students at a time, but..." Elle was bringing the Isle girls to their dorm, "...since you are from a...peculiar...place..."

"Let me guess, no one wanted to room with any of us?" Mal smirked at Evie and Shreya.

"Well...yes," Elle answered and stopped in front of a door. "But don't worry, we made the accommodations and you should all be very comfortable." She opened the door to reveal a rather pinkish room.

There were three canopy beds of brown and pink with flower patterns. There were writing desks alongside a small television over an armoire. Evie's eyes swept over the room with utter delight.

"Wow. This place is so amaz..." Evie began when Mal cut her off.

"Gross."

Evie's mouth snapped shut. Shreya inwardly chuckled and looked around the room. It wasn't quite her style either but she did feel it would be comfortable enough for them.

Elle ignored Mal's comment and walked over to the open window across the room. "You should have everything stocked inside but if there's something missing let me know." She turned around with a bright smile.

"So apart from counselor you're also dorm adviser?" Shreya raised an eyebrow.

"I like to be involved," Elle replied and moved for the door.

Shreya watched the girl pass by and couldn't contain herself. She turned and went after her. "Can I ask what's your game here?"

"Hm?" Elle stopped by the doorway.

"Your game? Your point in being so nice to the daughter of the woman who trapped your mother in _that_ amulet for so long?" Shreya pointed at the amulet necklace around Elle's neck.

"I'm just trying to follow Ben's vision..." Elle said, eyes flickering to Mal and Evie who were intently watching them.

"Are you really?" Shreya snapped.

"Yes," Elle nodded, trying to smile. "I only want to help in however I can. I'll see you all later." She gave a small wave to the girls and left. They missed the big scowl worming across Elle's face.

As soon as Elle was gone, Shreya shut the door with lock and turned to Mal and Evie. "My God I _hate_ that princess. When can I bibbidi-bobbidi-zap her out of existence?"

Mal smirked. "Soon."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Wow! I'm so happy that people liked the first chapter enough to fave/follow! I'm so happy! I'm still having trouble trying to figure out how to separate each chapter since I don't usually do chapters this short (this one's about 3,800 words). Hopefully they're not too short!

 **For the review:**

Thanks so much! I'm glad you found it interesting and I hope you liked chapter too!

* * *

I'll probably be updating every couple of days since, again, these chapters aren't that long and the movie itself isn't that long. Leave a comment or a thought if you'd like!


	3. Thieves of the Night

"So is every girl just expected to hate game consoles, or…?" Shreya leaned on Jay's and Carlos' dorm door while Mal and Evie strode in.

In comparison to their dorm, Jay's and Carlos' donned all the media devices a teenager would want. There was even beanbag chairs to sit on while they played on the console. There was a large plasma screen television sitting over what resembled a chimney mantle, and said television was the center of attention for Carlos when the three girls entered.

Mal spotted the mighty pile of objects sitting on Jay's bed, ranging from wallets to key chains. "Jay, what are you doing?"

"It's called stealing," Jay answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Okay, what's the point?"

"Well, Mal, It's like buying whatever I want..." and then Jay pulled out a mini-laptop from his jacket, "...except it's _free_."

"Right," Shreya closed the dorm door with lock and joined them, "So while you go and do some petty robberies, _we'll_ -" she gestured to the rest of the group, "-actually do the task our parents sent us to do. Maybe after we take over the world you can get back to it."

"Why do you have to be so sardonic like your mother?" Jay crinkled her nose. "Not your best angle, Shreya."

Shreya frowned.

"Die, suckers!" Carlos growled at the television where he was currently playing a game. He was fighting using cylindrical devices that apparently served a virtual connector to the game. "Jay, come check this thing out. Man, it's awesome!" Jay rushed forwards and took the controllers from Carlos.

Mal rolled her eyes at the two. "Guys!" she called to them. "Do I have to remind you what we're all here for?"

"Fairy godmother, blah, blah, blah," Jay said between his punches in the game, "Magic wand, blah, blah, blah."

"This is our one chance to prove ourselves to our parents. To prove that we are evil and vicious and ruthless and cruel," and yet as Mal said those words, no one in the room could really say that she'd meant it all the way. "Yeah?"

"...yeah," the group went slowly.

"Evie, take out your mirror," Shreya instructed the blue-haired girl.

Evie nodded and moved in between Shreya and Mal with her small mirror. "Mirror, mirror on the..." but she realized that the original chant wouldn't do it for this precise circumstance and amended, "...in my hand, where is fairy godmother's wand..." she paused to think again, "...stand?"

The mirror answered by showing the group the legendary wand sitting in a protected area, but nothing more came to view.

"Now zoom out," Mal told Evie.

"Magic mirror, not so close!"

However, the mirror went too far by showing them the entire _planet_.

"Closer," Evie's eyes narrowed. "Closer…" little by little the mirror zoomed back in the neccessary amount.

"Can I go back to my game?" Carlos impatiently asked, receiving a prompt punch on the arm from Shreya. "But I'm on level three!"

"Stop!" Mal suddenly exclaimed, startling Evie. "It's in a museum!" the mirror was showing them a building sign but without proper addresses.

"Do we know where that is?" Shreya looked up. Carlos moved over to the laptop Jay had stolen and did his small research.

"2.3 Miles from here."

"Excellent," Shreya straightened up and nodded with Mal. "We need to go now."

"Now?" Carlos frowned and glanced back at his paused game.

"Carlos so help me I will stick you in one of those lockers we saw today!"

"Fine, fine, tonight," Carlos raised his hands and started for the door.

It was easier to sneak out of the school than anyone would have thought. Jay teased that none of the goody two-shoes of Auradon students would ever have the nerve to sneak out after curfew. It was the most probable thing. On the Isle, there was no such thing as curfews. On the contrary, after midnight was when most of the businesses opened up. There was never a street that was empty. In Auradon, the Isle teens discovered that there wasn't a soul outside. It was how they got to the museum so fast.

They came up a large case of stairs leading up to the museum's front doors.

"Check your mirror," Shreya suggested to Evie as they came up to the doors.

Evie gasped and her hand automatically flew to her face. "Is my mascara smudged?"

"Who does their mascara to go on a robbery?" Shreya thought then teasingly nudged Jay on the ribs. "So what brand do you use?"

Jay rolled his eyes. "Oh-so funny."

As soon as they peeked through the doors' windows, they saw a security guard sitting at the front desk with various security cameras. Behind the guard was a grand spinning wheel, and a familiar one at that.

" _That's_ your mother's spinning wheel?" Jay asked, sounding and looking highly unimpressed.

"Yeah, it's kinda dorky," Carlos agreed.

"Oh I'd love to - no, no I'd _pay_ to see you two tell that to Maleficent herself," Shreya smirked and shut the two boys right up.

It was clear that neither of the boys wanted that. Mal pulled out her spellbook and searched for a spell that would get rid of the guard for their trip inside.

"Magic spindle, do not linger. Make my victim prick a finger. Prick the finger, prick it deep. Send my enemy off to sleep." She waved a finger and suddenly, without reason, the security guard rose from his chair and moved to the spinning wheel where he pricked his finger. He slouched next to the spinning wheel and fell asleep.

"Impressive," Shreya nodded.

"I'm sure you mother's wand will be too," Mal nudged her.

Evie tried the doors but found they were still locked. Jay motioned them to get away. "Stand back!" He backtracked a good distance and consequently missed Mal spell the doors to open. And so, when Jay ran for the doors, they opened without his touch and he fell straight to the floor.

"Next time try this little word called 'patience' Jay," Shreya shook her head and followed Mal and Evie into a hallway.

Without a guard threatening to discover them, the group of Isle teens were able to maneuver through the museum at peace. They went into several rooms finding only boring things like the history of Auradon and its royal bloodlines. Eventually, they came across an actual interesting room that seemed to lead to an even bigger room. The entrance room showed a familiar story to its visitors.

"Shreya…" Evie breathed in, her eyes scanning the entire room, "...is this…?"

"Avalor," Shreya spat the name of the birthplace of her mother, as well as to Princess Elena (now Queen to her state of Avalor) and her daughter Elle.

The entire room was dedicated to showing the story of the brave princess Elena who fought against the evil sorceress Shuriki.

"So this was the place your mother took over?" Jay was looking at one section of the story, specifically that of the kingdom of Avalor (now turned into a state).

"For a long while," Shreya moved over. "She murdered princess Elena's parents with her wand and then went for Elena herself...but then that stupid amulet hid Elena for a long time."

"How'd she get out?" asked Mal.

"Some young princess found the amulet and went on a courageous trip to free her," Shreya rolled her eyes. "When Elena was out, Avalor entered a war against my mother and her followers. It lasted a couple years...in which…I was born."

"And Elle," Carlos added, but warned a very deep glare in response. "Just reminding."

"We were all born in the same year, need I remind you," Shreya gestured to them all. "My mother was the last of the villains put on the Isle. But she always said that she had the last laugh against Elena."

"Why?" frowned Jay.

"No idea, she refuses to tell me," Shreya gave a shrug.

"Hey Shreya, look at this," Evie had stopped in front of a glass display. "Is this your mother's wand?'

Inside the display was a white want broken in two pieces. However, there was also a _second_ wand, a bit smaller than the broken one.

"Yeah, I suppose that's it," Shreya examined the wands. "But I never knew there was a second one. She never told me about it."

"Maybe it was meant to be yours," Evie suggested.

"I doubt it. My powers never manifested," Shreya distractedly said as she was still eyeing the second wand. She was a bit hurt that her mother never even bothered to mention she'd created a second wand, though the action didn't really surprise Shreya.

"Guys…" Carlos had been brought into the bigger room at the end of the current room the others were in. "Come and look."

The rest of the group followed Carlos into the far bigger room bathed in an eerie purple color. Everyone's eyes widened as each spotted a wax statue of their parent. There was Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar, Cruella De Vil and Shuriki.

"Mommy?" Evie gulped at the sight of her mother standing tall and overly evil with her infamous poisonous apple. It was certainly not the side of their parents that they were used to seeing.

"I will never forget mother's day again," Carlos blinked rapidly and tore his gaze from his mother's statue.

"Ditto," Shreya was struggling to continue blinking. Her mother's wax statue was a scary one, as were the others. Shuriki stood tall and mighty holding her wand out at them with a sinister grin on her face.

"Well, the wand's not here," Jay had enough of seeing his father and turned away. "Let's bounce."

Carlos had no problem with that suggestion and followed. Evie pulled on Shreya's arm and led her out of the room.

"Mal!" Shreya called on the purple-haired girl who'd remained in her spot, staring at Maleficent. "Let's go!"

It took Mal a while but she finally rejoined the group. They hunted down the wand until they came to an upstairs hallway. The wand was seemingly the most important object in the museum since it was being held over a circular terrace with some sort of magical, security barrier around it. They hurried towards the gates in the room and went downstairs to the see the wand in their level.

Jay eyed the wand with a smuggish grin, leading everyone else to conclude what he was about to do.

"Jay…" Mal's slow voice warned.

But Jay went under the rails and reached for the wand.

"Jay, don't!"

But Jay had touched the barrier and was deflected back, over the rails and onto the floor. Unfortunately, it caused the museum's alarms to go off.

"A force field _and_ a siren?" Carlos looked up at the flashing red lights.

"That's just a little excessive!" Jay groaned as he sat up.

"Let's go!" Shreya exclaimed and the group started into a run. If they didn't get out of there quick then the whole plan would be crushed.

They made it back to the entrance room but Carlos stayed back as he instead headed for the security desk. The guard was probably up and searching the upstairs levels, but it wouldn't be long before he returned.

"Carlos!" Mal hissed when they saw he was on the phone conversing with someone.

"No, false alarm," he was saying, easing the authorities on the other line. "It was a malfunction in the, uh, I'm 714 chip in the breadboard circuit."

"CARLOS!" Mal went again.

"Yeah. Okay. Say hi to the missus," Carlos smiled and hung up, only to turn and see the glaring faces of his friends. "What? You're welcome!" It was better to say that the alarm was false and not have everyone breathing down their necks for the attempted theft.

"Way to go, Jay!" Mal was scolding on their way back to school, beyond furious. "Now we _have_ to go to school tomorrow!"

~0~

The next day, Shreya was the first to wake up to a rather annoying alarm preset (she assumed) by that annoying Elle. With a groan, she turned her head to meet the bright red '7:00 A.M' of her alarm clock. She sat up and rubbed her face, though the other two alarms in the room belongong to Evie and Mal were not helping make the morning a little more bearable.

"Wake up!" Shreya grabbed her pillow and threw it at Mal, successfully hitting the girl's back of the head.

Mal groaned and drew the covers over her.

"Evie!" Shreya called but the blue-haired girl remained fast asleep. Shreya knew that she wouldn't need a pillow to make Evie get up. She just needed clever _words_. "Evie, classes start in one hour. You're not going to have enough time for your make up!"

And like a couch spring, Evie jerked awake. "I have to get ready!"

Shreya barely contained her giggle while Evie ran around the room getting ready for the school day. Meanwhile, Mal was still lying motionless on her bed. "My God - Mal!" Shreya got out of bed and, albeit groggy, walked over to Mal and began to shake her. "We do need to get up. I've no doubt that Elle's going to come here to check on us."

"Since when do you care if someone 'checks up on us'?" Mal pushed the covers down to reveal a smirk on her face.

"Well since my mother never bothered to do it, I'd like to leave a good impression."

Mal snorted and turned to the side. "That's funny. You're funny. Now go away."

Shreya rolled her eyes and turned away, intending on getting ready herself. Evie came out from their connected bathroom looking fresh as ever in a blue and white t-shirt sporting 'fairest' in the middle with a blue leather skirt to match.

" _How_ did you get changed so fast?" Shreya scratched her head.

Evie passed by with a smug smile. "One always has to be prepared no matter the time."

Mal waved a hand at her, apparently not quite there to deal with anything yet. She made her way into the bathroom and warned both of them not to hurry her up. Evie plopped down in front of the vanity desk near her bed and began opening up her makeup. "Shreya, do you want me to help you with your make up too?"

"Thanks Evie, but I'm not sure I'm up to be dazzling today," Shreya languidly moved over to her suitcase near her bed. Thinking they wouldn't be here for long, none of them had actually unpacked. She opened up the suitcase over her bed and began looking through her clothes.

"Well, since everyone is already going to be against us, it's better if we look our best," Evie promptly said and began to apply some blush. However, when she saw Shreya (through the mirror reflections) pull out a blue-green pair of pants, Evie automatically stopped and turned on her chair. "You are _not_ wearing that."

Shreya raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You're getting it all wrong," Evie got up and hurried to Shreya's side. "You're never going to find a prince wearing those," with a crinkled nose she took the pants and let it drop on the floor.

"Evie, I'm not looking for a prince. That's _you_ , remember?"

Evie ignored Shreya and ransacked the suitcase. "Oh! This! Definitely this!" She had pulled out a blue-green, faded with black, blouse with a collar and a long tail that reached to the back of her knees. "Much better. Now pair that up with some good old fashioned pants and we're good to go."

Shreya took the blouse because of two reasons: she actually did like the blouse and she didn't want to be unappreciative of Evie's attempts to make things better for them. "Thank you, Evie," she said kindly and Evie beamed as she returned to her makeup. It was these precise moments where she could hear her mother fuming about being 'too kind' and 'not enough snark'. Shreya often battled with herself to be the rude, malicious young woman her mother wanted her to be.

Often times, she lost...and it annoyed her to no end.

~ 0 ~

School at Auradon Prep was nothing compared to what the Isle had. Whereas in the Isle, most teachers could care less if their students paid attention, Auradon made sure teachers were engaging with students at all times. Classrooms were actually stocked with the necessary supplies that would help to learn. That much the group could tell from their first classes that day. Now, they were being forced to undergo their Goodness Remedial in the library...and just them.

Fairy Godmother stood at the front with a chalk board behind her. Although there were plenty of empty tables to sit at - considering no one wanted to be around them - Evie, Shreya and Mal sat at one table while Jay and Carlos sat at the one beside them. Fairy Godmother was doing her best to make her lesson understandable as she read each and every question out loud, slowly, and even wrote them on the board for the students to see.

"If someone hands you a crying baby, do you: A, curse it? B, lock it in a tower? C, give it a bottle? Or D, carve out its heart?" she looked hopeful at the students, missing the fact that Mal wasn't even paying attention as she sketched a wand on her notebook. Shreya bit her lip, forcing herself to keep her hands on the table. Eventually, Evie raised a hand. "Evie?"

Evie's eyes flickered to the board, but there was ditzy look on her face that told Shreya she was about to mess it up on purpose. "What was the second one?"

 _Oh, Evie_. Shreya knew that Evie was actually smart but often pretended not to know much in order to get things done for her, as well as to attract the attention of some folks. Now that they were in Auradon, where actual princes lived, she was sure that Evie would kick it up a notch.

Fairy Godmother's face fell in discouragement. "Oh, okay. Anyone else?" Shreya regretfully raised her hand (yet again). "Shreya?"

"C, you would give the baby a bottle."

Fairy Godmother beamed. "Correct again!"

"You are on fire, girl!" Carlos said, sincerely surprised.

Mal looked up from her drawing, bored, but with a matter-of-fact tone. "She's just picking the one that's not fun," she shrugged.

Shreya coughed awkwardly. "Right, _that's_ how I was choosing." Mal glanced at her oddly, sensing this wasn't quite the truth. Shreya had, in reality, been going through it logically and, shamefully, thinking of how to be kind. If her mother knew about this...Shreya shivered inwardly. She was glad her mother was far away at the moment.

"Ooh, that makes so much sense," Jay gave a tilt of his head.

A squeak drew the group's attention to a girl coming towards them. She was Jane, and quite terrified of the attention she was receiving. She hid behind her clipboard and squeaked again as she passed by the group's tables.

"Oh, hello, dear one," Fairy Godmother greeted her.

"Hi. Elle was meant to come in but...but she had things to do..." Jane glanced back at the Isle teens, "You, um, you need to sign off on early dismissal for the coronation."

Fairy Godmother took the clipboard from Jane and introduced her to the other teens. "Everyone here remembers my daughter, Jane?"

Jane's eyes widened, and her face drained of color. "Mom, no!" she whispered frantically.

"It's okay," her mother patted her on the arm. "Jane, this is everyone."

The group sent her smirks, but for Jane it might as well have been guns. She felt her breath leave and nearly passed out there and then. "H-hi," she managed to croak. She received the clipboard back, signed, with shaky hands and started her departure down the aisle of tables. "That's okay, don't mind me. As you were..." she squeaked again when she passed the group's tables then dashed out of there.

Mal smirked and watched after Jane. Oh, there was a plan brewing.

"Ahem," Fairy Godmother clapped her hands together. "Let's continue. You find a vial of poison. Do you: A, put it in the king's wine? B, paint it on an apple? Or c, turn it over to the proper authorities?"

Shreya sat on her hands so as to not answer anymore questions. Carlos raised a hand, intending on following what they thought Shreya was doing to answer correctly, but Jay pulled his hand down abruptly and answered.

"C: you turn it over!"

"I was gonna say that," Carlos frowned at Jay.

"But I said it first!" Jay mocked him and took Carlos in a head hold, doing a noogie which somehow led to both boys getting on their table to fight.

Fairy Godmother couldn't look more helpless as the two boys continued fighting back and forth. Shreya, Mal and Evie rolled their eyes. They were so used to it.

"Who said it first, huh?" Jay continued to tease as Carlos fought hard to get out of Jay's hold.

"Boys!" Fairy Godmother called, tapping on the podium beside her.

"You're going to need to shout harder than that," Shreya had felt bad for the woman and decided to give her some advice.

"Boys!" Fairy Godmother seemed to have listened despite the loud noises the boys were making in their fight. Both Jay and Carlos stopped to glance at their teacher. "I am gonna encourage you to use that energy on the tourney field."

Carlos blinked, slightly afraid. "Oh, no. That's okay. Whatever that is, we'll...we'll pass."

However, Carlos would find that he would not be able to evade the field.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Did I mention how much I frikin love this movie!? I actually rewatched the first movie again yesterday so I'm all pumped to keep writing for this one. And, also, just a reminder that I am tweaking some parts of the movie plots along with Elena of Avalor's stories.

 **For the Review:**

Thank you! I'm glad you liked the OCs and I hope you continue to like them throughout the story! I already have like 5 chapters written ahead and I'm still going so rest assured I am continuing till the end!

Yeah, I hate that they made my favorite princess' daughter so bitchy. I'm just glad that towards the end it seemed like Audrey would be turning better! Unfortunately for the time being in this story, she's going to continue being quite mean as we've seen.

* * *

Thanks for reading & favoriting/alerting! Hope to hear your thoughts!


	4. The History of Auradon

It was still the Isle teen's first day of school, and just before lunch Shreya and Evie still had one more class to go: Chemistry. Shreya was in the middle of taking out her Chemistry book when she heard Evie gasp. Stopping for a moment, she followed Evie's gaze to Ben, Audrey and a taller blonde boy with them.

"Over Ben so soon?" Shreya recalled Evie's attempted flirt with Ben yesterday when they'd first arrived.

"I'm allowed to look, aren't I?"

"Sure," Shreya shrugged.

"Where's Mal?" Evie asked in a hushed whisper.

Shreya answered in an equally hushed voice. "She said she was taking care of the wand business."

"On her own?" Evie was troubled.

"Well, you and I can't afford to ditch class on our first day, Carlos and Jay are nowhere to be seen so since Mal has a free period she's the only one who can do something right now. Mal knows what she's doing-"

"Shreya-" Evie had suddenly stiffened but since Shreya was deep in her locker she didn't see it.

"She said she had a plan-"

"Mal has a what now?" Ben's voice startled Shreya and made Evie hang her head.

Shreya was, thankfully, quick witted and corrected her near mistake. "She had a plan to keep us on track for our classes. You know, since our old classes weren't as, uh...rigorous as these...we need some extra help."

Ben bought it completely and smiled. "I'm glad you guys are taking initiative like that."

"Yeah, we're good like that," Shreya matched his smile with a fake one. "Weren't you with your little band of two-faces?"

"I'm...sorry?"

"Shreya," Evie whispered behind the girl. It wasn't smart to antagonise the Prince that allowed them to come to Auradon in the first place.

"Oh, that's what I'm calling most students here," Shreya went on like nothing. "Except Jane - she's the only real one I've met so far. Everyone else just has two faces here."

"Shreyaaaa…" Evie smiled politely to Ben while tugging on Shreya's arm.

"Oh c'mon," Shreya rolled her eyes. "I'm sure Ben knows that no one likes us here. _He_ probably doesn't even like us."

"You wanna get us booted back to the Isle _without_ the wand?" Evie whispered behind Shreya.

Ben, however, was seemingly taking it as amusement. "You really ought to give yourself some more worth." Shreya's eyebrows knitted together, mildly surprised he'd said that to her. "It's not easy for both sides, I completely understand. But, from what I heard, you're doing good in your classes so far. Don't be so quick to think no one liked you."

"You're tracking our progress in our classes?" Shreya asked, now truly surprised. Even Evie had taken a moment to process that. "You can do that?"

"When you're me you can," Ben shrugged. "And let me just congratulate you both. I heard the remedial course was even especially good with you," he motioned to Shreya.

That was where Shreya drew the line. She did not want to be reminded that she was excelling in "goodness" unlike her friends. What would her mother think about that? She, Shreya, daughter of the most evil sorceress...being _good_?

Shreya reached into her locker and pulled out her Chemistry book. "Sorry, Evie and I have to get to Chemistry." She slammed her locker door shut, making both Ben and Evie flinch at the sound. "C'mon, Evie."

Shreya moved for the door leading inside the building. With a sheepish smile, Evie waved goodbye to Ben and hurried after Shreya.

"That went well," Ben heard the voice of his best friend.

He smiled as he turned around, meeting Elle's teasing face. "You saw?"

"Oh, I saw," she nodded. She was clutching a math book in her arms and was smiling as wide as ever.

"Then why didn't you help?"

"I'm going to guess and say she probably wouldn't like me being around her," Elle tapped her amulet on her neck. "Besides-" she tilted her head, "-it's funny to watch you be all shy with a girl."

"Don't say that near Audrey, please," Ben pointed a warning finger at her. The last thing they needed was to deal with a jealous Audrey. Elle snickered as the two began to walk for their next classes, she to math and Ben to the fields.

~0~

Chemistry was boring, and that was the same story on the Isle. Shreya blankly stared at her open book, ignoring the stares from the other students. She and Evie were sitting at the same table, but Evie had been paired with Doug, and Shreya, unfortunately, had the same blonde that was with Ben and Audrey earlier. Shreya was just thankful that there hadn't been any partner work yet. She didn't take the blonde kid to be so bright considering all he'd done so far was stare at the ceiling.

"Any chance he's in line for a throne?" Evie was busy staring at him instead of paying attention to the teacher. "Anywhere in line?"

Doug followed her gaze and rolled his eyes. Shreya smirked. It was easy to see Doug was practically drooling over Evie since he'd seen her. "Chad. Prince charming, Jr," he whispered. "Cinderella's son. Chad inherited the charm, but not a lot of 'there there', know what I mean?"

"Oh, I could tell," Shreya looked up from her book. "She, on the other hand…" she glanced at Evie who was barely paying either of them attention.

"Looks like there there to me," Evie said with the biggest smile.

"Evie?" the Chemistry teacher called upon her, startling her from her daydreams. "Perhaps this is just review for you. So tell me, what is the average atomic weight of silver?"

Everyone, including Chad, was now staring at Evie. The girl looked around and plastered on that ditzy expression of hers. "Atomic weight? Uh, well, not very much. I mean, It's an atom, right?" Chad chuckled, and of course fueled her on.

The teacher had not found her answer amusing and motioned Evie to come up to the board to figure out the answer.

"Evie," Shreya motioned to Evie's red chest-like purse sitting on the table. 'Mirror' she then mouthed. She was not about to let some Auradon teacher humiliate any of her friends.

Evie secretly pulled mirror on her way up to the chalkboard. "Let's see, how do I find the average atomic weight of silver?" the mirror then began to number out the answer in her hand. As it did, Evie began to write it on the board. "That would be 106.905 times .5200, plus 108.905 times .4800, which, Mr. delay, would give us 107.9 amu…'

'Am _u_?' Doug mouthed, confused of it.

Evie smiled sweetly at the teacher and put down the piece of chalk.

"I forget," the teacher seemed to be regretting his choices, "Always a mistake to underestimate…"

"A villain?" Evie finished for him, tilting her head. "Don't make it again." She turned and walked back to the table, smugly. As she passed by, Chad had stopped her to give her a small piece of folded paper. This just made Evie practically radiate with joy.

Shreya could not feel the same, and glancing over to Doug (who looked ready to hit his head on the desk) she knew she wasn't only one.

~0~

Nearing the end of the first school day, Mal and Shreya walked down the inside hallway of the school. Mal was explaining to Shreya how she had begun her plan to get closer to the wand.

"It's easy with that Jane. She has issues as it is," Mal laughed. She shuffled her books to carefully keep her spellbook hidden amongst them. She didn't dare leave it in her locker where someone could sneak through it.

"So what exactly did you do?" Shreya asked curiously.

Mal opened her mouth to explain but caught site of Jane and so instead pointed to the excited girl conversing with another group of girls. Shreya followed the pointed finger and gasped at Jane's new (literally) hairstyle. Instead of the short, choppy do they had met Jane with, now it was longer and curly.

"You are wicked," Shreya said quietly.

"Thank you," Mal responded with a smirk before the two laughed together.

"Hey," Jay appeared by the hallway intersection, carrying a tattered history book in one hand. "Ready?" he looked at Shreya.

"What...happened to that?" Mal's eyes roamed the book in Jay's possession.

"Did I mention I crushed every single player in this school during their stupid Tourney practice?" Jay grinned. "I threw the book in celebration."

"So I guess you guys figured out what 'tourney' meant?" Shreya raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, we did. And we crushed the Auradons," Jay proudly stated.

"If you hurt that blonde one, Evie will kill you."

"What blonde one?"

"Speaking of, where is Evie?" Mal looked around. "We have math next period."

"By the bleachers with Chad," Shreya rolled her eyes. At Mal's and Jay's expressions, Shreya explained. "He's in mine and Evie's chemistry class and she's drooling over him."

"He's annoying," Jay said, obviously not approving of Evie's latest crush. "He got mad because I was clearly the better player."

"He seems like an idiot," Shreya made her own conclusions based on what she saw today. She had Chad, unfortunately, for two classes so far: English and Chemistry.

The bell rang and without Evie, Mal stalked to her math class on her own. Jay and Shreya turned in the opposite direction to get to History. Shreya hoped it would pass by fast because she was nearing her breaking point. Everyone was so...perky. It sickened her.

"Oh no," Shreya stopped abruptly at class doorway.

"What?" Jay towered behind her. The class was full of course, but the teacher was yet to be there.

"I have Audrey and Elle again," Shreya cursed her luck as she went to the back of the room where several desks were empty. Jay took the one beside her. "I've had them three times already."

"And they're still alive," Jay smirked. "I'm proud of your restraint."

"They're both perky faced two faces. At least Audrey doesn't feign to like me like Elle does. Can you believe she asked me if I needed help with English?" Shreya scoffed. "What do I look like?"

Jay considered the question honestly and replied with, "Like you're about to kill them." However, his playful demeanor lowered significantly when he saw Chad coming in - _rushing_ in - and taking a seat by Audrey and Elle.

"He probably had his moment with Evie," Shreya remarked.

"I hate that guy," Jay said, like it wasn't already obvious from his facial expressions.

"Afternoon everyone," the history teacher, a middle-aged man, walked into the room. Everyone immediately settled down, something that still managed to surprise the Isle teens throughout the day. "We'll be picking up where we left off yesterday so open your books to page 104 please."

Glumly, Jay and Shreya opened their books to the requested page. Shreya started skimming the pages before her, starting with the title of the chapter at the top.

 _Raging Wars of Auradon._

Shreya read along the pages while also listening to the teacher begin the lecture. She couldn't believe what she was seeing (and hearing). It was a collective history of the wars many of the kingdoms (before Auradon was founded by King Beast) had against their respective villains. It talked about tactics used against said villains, and how they eventually defeated them all. However, it was in the _way_ the book (and the teacher) were _speaking_ about the villains. While the tactics and gains of the Auradon side were given the utmost respect and pride, the villains were slandered. No matter what they did, even if it actually was a decent strategy used, they were tarnished. Not one thing was appreciated despite the fact many of the villains had founded several lands the Auradons occupied now.

It didn't help that every minute or so, Audrey or Chad would glance back at Jay and Shreya to throw smug smiles at them. Never had Shreya wanted to have her mother's wand in her possession than at that moment. Even Elle had glanced at them on occasion, and Shreya swore that there were hints of smirks on the princess' face.

Needless to say that when the bell rang, and finally signaled the school day was over, Shreya and Jay exited the room in utter fury. Jay didn't hesitate to throw his textbook into the trash bin on their way down the hall.

"I'm not going back there!"

"Jay!" Shreya called after him but he turned in a different direction, probably to blow off some steam in his own way. Her eyes flickered to the trash bin where Jay had thrown his book and was tempted to do the same. Gripping her book, she stalked off.

She didn't bother finding Mal nor Evie, and definitely ignored Elle's calls for her. Shreya wanted to know more about this history that the Auradons were drilling into the students' minds. The library was her first stop. She was going to collect every book she could, but while she read through said books, she could feel some of the students' burning looks on her back and decided that if they were going to live, she could not remain in the same room as them. So, picking up as many of the books as she could, including her original History class book, she went in search of a new, empty room. Eventually, she came across what looked like a sewing club room.

Shreya wiped everything off a table that hadn't included a sewing machine and let the books in her arms drop over it. There, she continued reading...and reading...and growing even more angry. It certainly was not the best idea for the sewing club to come in and interrupt her. With screams and threats, she sent them all off.

"This is all...crap, just crap!" Shreya growled and slammed another book shut. She rubbed her face tiredly.

"Hey? Everything alright?"

Shreya dropped her hands from her face. "Let me guess, the little sewing club came crying to you or Fairy Godmother because big, bad, Shreya told them off?"

"Uh, something like that..." Ben was in a mixture of confusion from the sewing supplies on the floor, and amusement from Shreya's words. "Are you alright?I meant to come by your dorms earlier, but...I couldn't find Jay nor Carlos. Mal and Evie did ask about you, you know?"

"Yeah, believe me, I want nothing more than to go to my friends and forget this...place," Shreya spat the word and stood up from her chair.

"First day was tough, then?" Ben of course expected it to be the case, but he had no idea what was running through Shreya's mind right now.

"Tough is an understatement," Shreya turned around, finally meeting his gaze. "I am... _beyond_ furious. In fact, right now, I really wish I was with my Mom - and you should know she and I don't have the best relationship so consider how bad I must be feeling at the moment."

Ben didn't need to consider it - he was _seeing_ it. "You seemed okay earlier," he remarked, coming towards her.

"That was before! Before I had to go to... _this_ class!" she tossed one of the history books at him, which he caught with ease. "I had to sit there and listen to the teacher trash talk the people that I grew up with! It wasn't even _history_ I was learning! I was stuck there listening to how Auradon is the best!" she began to mock with a high-pitched voice, waving her hands for dramatic flare. "Auradons are Gods while everyone on the Isle should barely be considered a human! I get it, we're bad people, but to _ignore_ our contributions to your land? To _teach_ that Auradon was founded only by your royalty bloddlines?" She was breathing hard by the time she finally gave herself a pause, but her face was red with rage. "Your history is severely chopped up into pieces where only _your_ people-" she pointed at Ben, "-come out looking like Gods. And how about your present? For today's world, there is only Auradon to speak of. There wasn't _one_ mention of what life on the Isle is. It didn't go on to say how while Auradon lives with riches thanks to the work _we_ -" she gestured to herself, "-villains put into this land, people on the Isle - the children - have to fight and steal if they want breakfast."

Ben was speechless. Never had he been confronted in that way, and much less about this topic. He should have thought it better, he knew that _now_. Unfortunately, he didn't quite know how to fix it at that moment. "Sh-Shreya, I don't...I'm sorry. I didn't really...think about it..."

"Of course you didn't!" Shreya snapped. "Jay and I...we sat there, _barely_ restraining our selves! And I wonder to God how the hell Mal, Carlos and Evie did it before us because _I_ almost didn't!"

"You need to calm down-"

"You're trash talking us each and every day - don't tell _me_ to calm down!" she shouted and walked past him.

Ben grasped her by the arm, forcing her to stop. "Okay, it's bad, I understand-"

"No you don't! The only people who would understand are Jay, Carlos, Mal, Evie and anyone from the Isle. You're an Auradon - the _prince_ of Auradon. What could you _possibly_ understand?" she pulled her arm from his grip and backtracked out of the room. "Keep the books. I'm not going back to that History class ever again."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

This was possibly one of my favorite chapters ever. I always wondered when I watched the movie how this precise subject (History) affected the Descendants. Because, I'm sure history was probably making their parents look bad. I don't think it was ever mentioned and I really am curious about it so I decided to bring that part to life in this story.

 **For the Review:**

There are no twins in this story, sorry to say! ;) But nice guess!

* * *

As always, thank you guys for reading and hope to hear your comments/thoughts!


	5. A New History

At the school field, Elle, one of the school cheerleaders, was sitting at the bleachers deep in a book. It wasn't time yet for the cheer squad to begin practicing, since Audrey (the Captain) had yet to show up and the boys were still practicing for their upcoming game.

"Ben, not again!" she heard Chad's distinctive call. She looked up to see Ben picking himself up from the ground after, probably, being knocked by one of the other team members. This had been the third time he was in that situation.

Elle shook her head and went back to her reading. She passed another page and continued to brush up on the facts she really couldn't forget during these days.

"Ben!" went another of the team members.

With a sigh, Elle glanced up again but this time it looked like Ben had, had enough. He was motioning he was leaving the practice early as he walked for the bleachers.

"You know you absolutely _cannot_ be like this during the game this week, right?" Elle greeted him with a teasing smile. "Though-" she was startled by Ben unceremoniously plonking down beside her, "-with that Jay guy you might have a chance still. He's actually really good."

"Why are you reading that?" Ben's question had sounded more like a demand, and an impolite demand at that.

"Excuse me?" she responded sharply. "You're asking me...why I'm reading...a book about... _my_ history? Really?" because the book pertained to Queen Elena of Avalor and their state's past.

Ben scrunched his face, feeling guilty for his rudeness. "Sorry, I didn't...I didn't mean to sound like that."

"Yeah, I know that," Elle closed the book, and if Ben had been paying attention he would have seen she'd been reading about her mother's amulet. "You've been acting a little weird lately. Audrey won't stop talking about it. You want tell me?"

Ben sighed and leaned back on to the second row of the bleachers. "It's what Shreya told me a couple days ago."

"Was she rude?" Elle assumed. "Because, as much as I'm trying, I have to admit those kids aren't quite nice. You know Mal threatened me because I offered to give her some tutoring for chemistry?"

"No - actually, I think Shreya had all the right to shout and be mad."

Elle shifted on her seat to face him, even putting her book on the second bleacher behind her. "What do you mean?"

Ben was silent for a while, leaving Elle to wonder if he'd suddenly decided their conversation was over. Then, out of nowhere, he began to talk. "Do you think our history's selective?" Elle raised an eyebrow, of course having no idea what the hell he meant by that. "Do you think that we're only telling the stories we want to tell?"

"Ben, help me here, I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Shreya says that our history lessons aren't telling the entire truth. It's history that's been picked at, cut up to tell only the bits and pieces that make Auradons look good," and as Ben said those words he felt another layer of guilt fall on his shoulders.

"What?" Elle nearly laughed, thinking it was a joke. Ben gave her a significant look which made her forget all about laughing. "Is that...wait, is that why she and Jay haven't been back? Mr. Crane doesn't bother with them anymore, honestly, but...still..."

"I mean, at first glance it sounds ridiculous but if you really think about..." Ben sighed. "For starters, the founders of the land - we _know_ that not every founder was an Auradon. Some of them were villains and the history books don't mention them. In fact, none of our lessons include any contributions of any villain. We only mention them when they did something horrible."

Elle's look was one of fascination, but her eyes quickly darted down.

Ben went on, never noticing it. "And then our present...Shreya said that no one ever speaks of the Isle and the problems it has. We know that's true. Have we been doing it all wrong? I mean, I thought bringing them over would be the beginning of setting things straight."

"But you are," Elle tried reassure. "And remember what Fairy Godmother always says? We shouldn't focus on the past anymore-"

"Easy for _us_ -" Ben pointed between them, "-to say when we've had it good. We grew up with everything we could ever need or want. I can't even imagine what Shreya or the others have had to go through on the Isle."

"That's not our fault-"

"And it wasn't theirs either. Shreya...Mal...Jay...Carlos...Evie...everything that their parents did was not _their_ fault yet they're paying for it along with their parents. Even now..." Ben shook his head and pushed himself up to his feet.

Elle recognized when his best friend had an idea. "Ben, what are you thinking of?"

"I'm going to fix it," he declared and walked off.

"Fix what?" Elle called after him, confused. "Ben? Ben!" She shook her head and gave up on calling after him. She picked her book up again and turned to the page where she'd left off on. "Let's see-" she started reading on the amulet again, "-what were those rules again...?"

~ 0 ~

Jane was pacing back and forth in the Isle girls' dorm, fuming. Apparently, her initial terror of the Isle group had vanished after Mal fixed her hair up. She'd come in, and started almost immediately babbling about her mother who was refusing to take the wand from the museum in order to fix the rest of her flaws.

"Mom said, 'If a boy can't see the beauty within, then he's not worth it'," Jane mimicked her mother's voice and stopped to look at the girls. "Can you believe it? What world does she live in?"

"Auradon," Mal scoffed, boredly looking through her spell book on her bed.

"Mal, Shreya, do you like?" Evie stopped her sewing to raise the almost finished blue and black leather dress from her small table.

Mal didn't even bother to look up but still answered. "Yeah, it's cute."

Shreya, on the other hand, looked up from her Chemistry journal and smiled. "Oh, that's really nice!"

"I know," Evie beamed and went back to sewing.

"Hey, where'd you even get that sewing machine?" Shreya asked, genuinely curious. She doubted Evie had joined the sewing club, and much less that the club _accepted_ her.

"Ben gave it to me," Evie carelessly replied, missing Shreya's surprise.

"Just...just like that?"

"Hm," Evie shrugged, still oblivious. "Well, I mentioned that on the Isle I used to design clothes - with Dizzy remember - and he said I could try going to the sewing club but let's be honest, that wasn't going to happen, so then he said it would be okay if I just took a machine for myself. I already had some material from the Isle so I just started to work."

"Typical Ben," Jane smiled and sat down on Evie's empty bed. "Audrey's so lucky," she said with a sad smile. "I'll never get a boyfriend."

"Boyfriends are overrated," Mal retorted, still bored with the conversation.

Both Evie and Shreya laughed.

"And how would you know, Mal?" Evie threw her a smirk. "You've never had one."

"Neither have you, E," Mal responded rather quick-witted.

"No, but Shreya did so does that make her overrated too?"

"Yeah, does it?" Shreya waited with a big grin on her face.

Mal smirked at them both. "With the one she had, oh _yes_."

Shreya feigned offence with a gasp and threw her pillow at Mal. " _You_ introduced us, don't forget!"

"And I regret it so much," Mal laughed and threw the pillow back at her.

"Oh no!" Evie stopped her sewing all of a sudden. "I forgot to do Chad's homework!" she jumped out of her chair and ran for her bed. Jane picked her legs up on the bed as Evie searched for something around it.

"Excuse me? _Chad's_ homework? _You're_ doing it?" Shreya was scowling now.

"That's not surprising," Jane shook her head. "Chad's always got someone doing his homework."

Evie returned to her sewing desk with Chad's backpack and began to work on the assignments.

"Hey guys!" a young, rather tall, Chinese girl ran into room. She was very pretty with dark, brown eyes but she seemed a bit awkward in her short choppy, black hairstyle. "I'm Lonnie," she gave a wave of her hand.

Shreya did not feel like dealing with another perky-faced Auradon. Jane was making the cut because, so far, she was the only one who seemed real enough and totally _not_ perky-faced.

Lonnie saw her presence wasn't acknowledged very well and gave it another try. "My mom's Mulan?" she might as well have heard crickets. "No? Anyways, I love what you've done with Jane's hair." Mal looked up, only mildly interested. "And I know you hate us, and, well, you're evil. But do you think you could do mine?"

Mal raised an eyebrow. " _Why_ would I do that for you?"

"I'll pay you 50 dollars," Lonnie waved the small bundle she held in her hand.

"Good answer," Evie got up from her chair and moved to the girl. "I need to buy more material. Let's see, I'm thinking, we lose the bangs, maybe some layers and some highlights," she touched Lonnie's hair to get a better feel.

"Yeah, yeah. I want it cool...like Mal's," Lonnie pointed to the girl in question. Mal raised her eyebrows, clearly surprised by this.

"Really? The split ends, too?" Evie mumbled. Shreya threw her pillow at her. "Ow!" Evie then shot her a look.

"That was on behalf of Mal," Shreya raised her hands.

Mal thanked her with a smirk and grabbed her spell book. "Okay..." she skimmed for the needed page and cleared her throat to the spell, "Beware, forswear, replace the old with cool hair." She waved her finger at Lonnie, whose head moved in different directions as the spell took effect.

Lonnie gasped when her hair grew in length, into curls, and changed from black to brown. Her hands reached up to touch the soft curls.

"I know, I know, it looks like a mop," Evie brought her to the full-length mirror. "You know what? Let's cut it off, layer it-"

"No, no, no, no, no, no! I love it!" Lonnie beamed.

"You do?" Evie stepped back, clearly disagreeing.

Lonnie nodded excitedly, although her face turned thoughtful. "It's just..." she touched the bottom of her dress and, without warning, ripped it. " _Now_ I'm cool!"

"Like ice," Shreya said, although she was barely able to believe that the preppy Auradon girl had done that.

Jane slowly went up to Lonnie, also thinking, and then...she did the same to her own dress. Everyone gasped, including Jane, and she covered her mouth. "What did I just do? Mom's gonna kill me!"

Unable to help it, Shreya burst into laughter.

Yes, she definitely liked Jane.

~ 0 ~

Being it a half day, Shreya, Mal and Carlos headed for their English class...whom they unfortunately shared with Audrey, Chad, Elle and Ben. They took the desks in the back, as they usually did in every class that didn't have an assigned seating chart.

"Did you guys actually read the assignment?" Carlos whispered to the two girls as they sat down, he in front of Mal's desk. Shreya had taken the desk next to Mal's.

"No," Mal scoffed at the idea. "Not like they're going to pick us anyways. No one wants to call on us."

"I read it," Shreya shrugged. " _A Brave New World_. Ironic."

"What was it about?" Carlos shifted to face her, eagerly waiting to get the assignment.

Shreya playfully rolled her eyes but was going to go ahead and give Carlos the most important details of the chapter they were meant to have read for today. However, when she did, she spotted Audrey coming in with Chad and Elle. "I wish I could tear that amulet from her neck," was what came out instead.

Carlos glanced at Mal, dead serious as he asked, "I'm pretty sure that's not in the book, right?" Mal nodded up ahead and Carlos turned on his seat to see the Auradon students coming in. "Oh. Shreya, what is it with that stupid amulet, anyways? It's just a necklace."

"That _necklace_ as you choose to call it, is the thing that can trap me for God knows how long!" Shreya hissed, balling a hand on her desk. "My mother used it to trap Elena, and now since it belongs to Elle she can command it to trap me. All she has to do is touch me."

"Wicked," Mal said with a smirk, earning a glare from Shreya in return. "What? It is what it is. If you could get that amulet to work for you, this wand business would be so much easier."

"Uh, guys..." Carlos' voice had gone shaky, but neither girl noticed.

"Mal!" Shreya shifted on her seat, facing Mal's direction. "My Mom said that amulet is my downfall. You want me to go and see if I can risk my life?"

Mal had started sketching on her journal. "I was only saying..."

"Guys..." Carlos once again interjected but was ignored.

"Why can't you use your stupid spell book instead? Isn't that why your mother gave it to you?"

"Guys!" Carlos was finally able to pull them both from their conversation.

"What!?" went both girls. Carlos didn't need to answer as someone had come up to their desks.

Elle stood shyly in the desk aisle, specifically closer to Shreya. Shreya leaned back on her chair, away from the amulet on Elle's neck.

Mal noticed Shreya's uneasiness and put down her sketching pen to deal with Elle. "Can we help you with something?" her eyes flickered to the keenly watching Audrey and Chad at the front of the room. "Were you dared to come over and talk to us? What? Take something from us?"

Elle bit her lip. "No, nothing like that."

"Did Ben tell you to check up on us?"

"No, no, he's not coming to class," Elle shook her head then set a hand on Shreya's desk, startling the latter. "I just...I wanted to clarify that it was never our attention to make you feel bad in our History class."

Shreya raised an eyebrow. "Wow. An apology. That makes everything oh-so-better!" she mocked with a high-pitched voice. Carlos and Mal snickered from their spots. "Thank you so much, princess."

Elle sighed. "I know it's not much, but...look," she tried to get closer but this time Mal stood up like on instinct and blocked Shreya.

"Take the step back, _now_ ," she ordered darkly.

Everyone around the classroom stopped their chattering to stare at the 'confrontation'.

Mal's eyes narrowed on Elle who put a hand on her amulet, of course knowing why there was tension. "Take yourself and your stupid amulet back to your desk."

"Don't talk to her like that," Audrey shot up from her desk. "You've no right to-"

"Audrey, it's fine," Elle motioned to her friend to let her handle it. "I'm sorry," she said to Mal then leaned to the side to get a view of Shreya. "I-I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Mal leaned in the same direction and snapped her fingers. "Go!"

With a sigh, Elle nodded and turned to go back to her spot in the front. Mal only sat down when Elle had taken her seat first.

"Thanks, Mal," Shreya whispered. Mal smiled her way.

"What did you do that for?" Audrey, in the meanwhile, was beginning to scold Elle. "She could have, I don't know, spelled you or something!"

"That wasn't smart," Chad added in agreement.

Elle sighed between the two. "I was just trying to make things better for Ben."

" _What_ does this have to do with Ben?" Audrey raised an eyebrow. "And why hasn't he been to any of the classes today? It's not like there's much since it's a half-day!"

"Audrey, _breath_ ," Elle instructed, making Chad snicker. "I don't know what Ben's doing. I haven't seen him since practice this morning."

"What were you talking about with those kids?" Audrey nodded to Shreya, Mal and Carlos.

"About the History class lessons-"

Audrey scoffed and straightened in her seat, facing the chalk board. "What problems could they have considering they're ditching the class?"

"We don't understand them," Elle shrugged.

"There's nothing _to_ understand about them," Audrey snapped. "They're evil. They're from the Isle and they're probably planning on how to kill us all."

"I still can't believe Ben actually came up with this idea," Chad muttered.

"Oh, what are you talking about?" Audrey shot him a look. "Last time I checked you were getting cozy with that Evie."

"For purely academic reasons," Chad smirked.

Elle buried her face in her hands. She had come to accept Audrey and Chad as friends, but Ben really made them both more bearable. Where the hell was he!?

~ 0 ~

"Ta-da!" Evie waved her newly finished dress she'd been working on in the morning. Mal and Shreya looked up from their respective work and smiled as Evie swung with it. "How does it look?" she rested the dress over herself for show.

"It looks great, Evie," Shreya raised her _Brave New World_ book and continued to read.

"I can't believe you're still reading that," Mal rolled her eyes and went back to reading her own spell book.

"Just because the class is horrible doesn't mean the book is."

"You should know that everyone knows what happened there," Evie put down her finished dress on her bed. "Doug told me about it."

"Auradon has nothing better to do than be nosy," Mal mumbled under her breath. "At least on the Isle no one talked about gossip. Everything was crystal clear."

"If you're that worried about the amulet, then we should steal it," Evie suggested.

"Then they'd know it was me," Shreya sighed. She had thought about it but had come to the same conclusion as she did now.

"Don't worry, when we have the wand you can use it to take the amulet from Elle like candy from a baby," Mal smirked.

"Oh, that's better," Evie pointed at Mal, truly impressed. "In the meantime, Shreya, don't worry so much. It's bad for your skin."

Shreya chuckled. "I don't really care about my face."

"I could make you a dress if you want!?" Evie offered, although Shreya didn't get to answer as Evie was growing more excited about her idea. "Oh yeah! I can see it! Do you want the sleeves off the shoulder or puffy? Or-"

"I don't really need one, Evie," Shreya passed the page of her book.

"I know, it'll be casual but also a bit of fancy-casual so you can wear it whenever..." Evie had sat down at her sewing desk and began sketching the design on her sketch pad.

"Evie, I don't need one!" Shreya sang the words but her words flew over Evie.

"Let her," Mal said from her bed. "We should come up with a new plan for the wand anyways." She hopped off her bed and came over to Shreya's, snatching her book and throwing it to the side.

"Hey! I was reading that!"

"Shall we tell that to your mother?"

Shreya blinked. "Good point. So, spell?"

"I was looking through the pages-" Mal had begun when someone knocked on their door.

"Come in!" called Evie who couldn't be bothered to get up, not when she was getting her vision of Shreya's new dress.

The door opened and in came Ben, holding a couple of papers in his hands. As soon as they saw him, Mal threw her spell book behind her and Shreya put her pillow in front of it. Last thing they needed was for Ben to come and see what sort of spells laid in that book. As far as anyone knew, it was just a meaningless little book that could switch hairstyles.

"Now how can we help the prince today?" Shreya sarcastically asked. "You should know this is how I greeted your bestest friend and things didn't end well."

"Nearly cursed her," Mal added with a smirk.

"Please don't," Ben told her, actually meaning it, then looked to Shreya. "Can we talk, please?"

"If it's just to give some lame apology like Elle, I'd rather not," Shreya got up from her bed nonetheless to show him the way out. "I mean, what is it with you Auradons and thinking three little words makes everything bad go away?"

"Shreya, I just want to-" Ben struggled to get his words in as Shreya dragged him to the door.

"You should try that on the Isle and see how it goes, honestly," Shreya rolled her eyes.

"-if you could just listen you'd see-"

"I don't want to hear your apologies-"

"I'm not apologizing!" Ben's voice rose in volume just as Shreya had pushed him outside. He'd turned rather quickly and stuck a foot in the doorway to prevent Shreya from closing the door.

"You're not?" Shreya raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's a surprise. Feeling bad yet?"

"Here," Ben handed her the papers he'd been holding. "Just take them, please."

Shreya looked at him for a second and snatched the papers from him, giving them a brief skim. "I don't understand, what are they?" she could see titles of what looked like History events, along with titles that she assumed were books since they had authors' names written next to them.

"I thought about what you said about our history lessons not teaching what I'd like our generation to know," Ben grew more and more excited as he went on. "That's not the vision I have for when I become King-"

"That must be fun to remind, huh?" Shreya looked up at him, but this time there was no hardship in her eyes. "Ben, what is this? Honestly."

There was a wide grin on Ben's face and Shreya honestly thought he might crack his face in two. "It's the new History class curriculum."

Shreya blinked with no readable expression on her face. Behind her, Evie had stopped her sketch design and Mal had inched closer to the foot of her bed to listen.

"I don't...understand," Shreya went back to studying the papers, this time really looking at them.

"I made it, from scratch," Ben began to explain again. "I thought what was important, and _how_ it should be addressed. I collected books and I went through most of them. I think I've gotten it right this time."

"You made this in _one_ day?" Shreya asked in disbelief, even her mouth hanging open for a bit.

Ben nodded excitedly. "Yeah! And I think it came out great! But I'd like you to give it a last check, in case I missed something or I added something I shouldn't have."

Shreya crinkled her nose. "No, sorry, you want _me_ to look it over? Isn't that your little counselor-to-be's job?"

"Elle wouldn't understand, like you said," Ben gestured to Evie and Mal behind, "Only someone from the Isle would. I did my best to add in all the correct history but I think it deserves to have someone from the Isle give it their proofread."

"And...and what happens afterwards, then?"

"Well, I intend to have this implemented when I become King."

Shreya's lips stretched into a smirk. "Really? Again with the king thing?"

Ben chuckled. "Sorry. I just...I meant I'd like to have it implemented when I have the power to."

Shreya was feeling a bit awkward under Ben's ecstatic stare. "I...I don't..." she shook her head, deciding she wasn't going to beat around the bush, "I don't know how to respond to a situation like this."

"I changed it because you deserved better, and I really hope you do like it," Ben said, clearing his throat a bit awkwardly now. "Tell me what you think later?" Because she had no words, Shreya gave a nod for an answer. "Great," and with an awkward smile, Ben walked off.

Shreya slowly closed the door and turned back to Evie and Mal, but her gaze was glued to the curriculum papers. "I don't...know what happened..."

"I do," Evie was practically bursting with giddiness. She had her elbows on her desk and her chin resting on her hands. "Ben just changed the entire History curriculum for _you_! Awww!" Even Mal tried her best not to laugh.

Shreya had a look of horror at Evie, but her face suddenly went all warm. She put a hand on her cheek and started back to her bed, staring at the papers, and as she faced away from Evie and Mal, Shreya began to smile.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This was actually one of my favorite chapters lol. I felt like we didn't get a lot of the Descendants in their classrooms so I knew I wanted to add that in here! And what did we think of Ben's little surprise? Are we Evie (giddy) or are we Shreya (totally lost and stunned)? xD

 **For the Review:**

She sure did lol! I loved writing that moment! Glad to see you did too! :)

* * *

As usual, thank you all for reading! Hope to hear your comments and thoughts!


	6. Pushing an Apology

Being too focused on catching up in his classes, Ben was most definitely not expecting someone to slam papers right beside him on the table. He looked up and found Shreya, none too pleased, and a bit edgy if he had a say in it.

"I figured it out," she declared and moved around the table to take a seat across him.

"What?" Ben didn't follow.

"I mean, Evie was saying some ridiculous things that I just didn't believe. In the end, we realized the game!"

Ben was utterly lost. "Game? Wh-what game? We're in the library."

Shreya scooted her chair in and leaned forwards on the table. "You changed a traditional history curriculum for me and now of course you want something in return."

Ben's eyes widened. "Wait, _what_ -"

"It took me a while to figure it out but give me credit - this isn't my terrain," Shreya gestured to the place. "So what do you want, your royal highness? Did you want me to steal something? Threaten someone? I don't know, go on stage or something and say how wonderful you've been for giving me and my friends the chance to come here? Just tell me already!"

"You are...crazy," Ben concluded in the utmost politest way possible. Shreya narrowed her eyes. "Is this how things work on the Isle, then? Everyone does something for a price?"

Shreya gave an obvious shrug. "We don't exactly have a lot of money there. Nothing is free. You want something, you gotta do something first. So, what did you want from me?"

Ben laughed but Shreya could tell this wasn't a regular 'amused' smile. There were traces of indignation and anger. "I'm not the people you've met on the Isle, Shreya. What I do, I do with good intentions. I do it to be kind."

"I don't know the meaning of that word-"

"Clearly," Ben cut her off, snappishly. "I changed the curriculum because it bothered you, because you were right...you deserved better. I told you this-"

"Yeah, which I thought was a lie-"

"Because that's what you're used to?"

Shreya's jaw tightened. She could only stare at Ben who was getting more upset.

"I am _trying_ to make you and your friends feel welcome because I know it can't be easy to leave everything behind, including your parents." Ben began collecting his things, all in the meanwhile of expressing his indignation. "Yeah, maybe I should have been more clearer on what my intentions were with that curriculum and I'm sorry if you thought you had to do something for me in return. I changed it for _you_ , and nothing else."

Shreya was stunned, and while Ben was too, he didn't show it. Had he really said he changed it just for her? He decided not to stick around to figure it out. He grabbed his backpack and walked away.

Shreya was left sitting there with a mind jumbled up. When she managed to, she left the library and met up with her friends by the lockers.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Evie asked her the moment they saw Shreya.

"Um, well, turns out we were wrong. He didn't want anything in return and now...he's mad at me..." Shreya slowly answered, her hand gripping her bag's strap over her shoulder. "And, hold on…" she pretended to think for a minute, "...yes, I'm pretty sure it's actually _bothering_ me."

"What happened?" Jay curiously asked once the group began to walk.

"Ben changed the history class curriculum because Shreya over here snapped at him so naturally we thought-"

" _You_ thought, Mal," Evie made sure to clarify. " _You_ thought he was trying to get something in return. _I_ -" she put a hand on her chest, "-thought something quite differently." Mal rolled her eyes.

"So you actually went up to Ben and told him all that?" even Carlos was fairly amused.

"It's not funny," Shreya snapped. "He's mad!"

"And it's bothering you," Jay was having quite the fun there. "Who would've thought the sorceress had a thing for princes.'

"I don't! Shut up!"

"Then why are you mad!?"

"Guys," Mal shushed them. "We have better things to focus on than petty disagreements. Shreya, it won't matter what Ben thinks right now because in a matter of time the wand will be ours and we'll be out of here."

Shreya nodded but inside she was still mighty confused. She was actually _bothered_ by the fact someone was upset with her. The only person that managed to do that was her mother, and that was only because...it was her _mother!_ No one else has that power and suddenly someone in Auradon did? That had to be wrong. Just...just _wrong_.

~0~

During their free period, Mal had entrusted Shreya with her spell book to see if perhaps she could give it a look from a sorceress' angle. Despite Shreya repeatedly reminding that she didn't have any powers like her mother, Mal convinced Shreya to give it a try. She was outside in one of the benches when she heard a barking noise nearing. Looking up, she saw Carlos coming to the table with a dog in one arm, while in the other was a book.

Shreya laughed. "Out of everything that's happened, _this_ -" she pointed at the dog, "-is by far one of the strangest ones."

Carlos playfully rolled his eyes and set the book on the table. "His name's Dude and Ben said I could keep him for now."

Shreya's momentary humor faded. "Oh... _he_ gave the dog to you?"

"That was before your little incident," Carlos sat down on the grass, preferring to play with the dog instead of helping with their mission.

Shreya scoffed. "Incident," she muttered and went back to her book.

"I brought the book on the wand like you said," Carlos pointed up to the table. Shreya left the spell book and reached for the wand book. "Why did you need that one? Shouldn't we be studying Fairy Godmother's wand instead of your mother's?"

Shreya had asked Carlos to find a book on Shuriki's wand history in order to give it a study. "Because I need to know more about the second wand. My mom conveniently left that part out and who knows, it could help."

"You think she did it on purpose?"

"I don't know! Maybe she left it as a surprise or...a way for me to become more like a villain, you know?"

Carlos shrugged. Shreya started skimming the book and examining its detailed pictures. Neither teen noticed Audrey and Chad passing by.

"Look Chad," Audrey pulled her sunglasses from her face. Shreya looked up with a frown, knowing it was about to get irritating. "She's brushing up on her history. Reading about your mother's wand before it was snapped like a twig?"

Shreya discreetly pulled the wand book over Mal's spell book before glaring at Audrey. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Shreya, let's just go," Carlos got up with Dude in his arms.

"Yeah, go and plot somewhere in a corner," Chad mocked them. "That's how you do it, right?" Audrey giggled.

Shreya rolled her eyes. "Did you two come here to see which one could deliver the worst insult? If so, you're both losing. And badly."

Audrey rolled her eyes and grabbed Chad by the arm. "I've no idea why Ben and Elle would ever think bringing your group here was a good idea."

"Maybe because they believe in second chances," Carlos surprised everyone, including Shreya, with. Even _he_ looked a bit startled by his words.

"As if," Audrey scoffed and put on her sunglasses. Having nothing else to say, she and Chad departed.

"That was...something," Shreya was now eyeing Carlos oddly. "Can I ask where that came from?"

Carlos just shrugged and petted Dude. "Just something I got. Not from Elle, but Ben."

Shreya rolled her eyes and went back to her reading. Without interruptions, she was able to go through Mal's spell book as well as a good portion of her mother's wand history. Eventually, even Carlos helped with the reading, although on many occasions Shreya asked him if he was going to actually read or play with Dude.

"Still working?" Jay met up with them after an hour or so, holding a sports duffel bag in one arm.

"It's not as easy as you think," Shreya looked up and rubbed her face, weary of all that she'd read.

"Did you find anything on your mother's twin set of wands?"

"Yeah, actually," there was a noticeable trace of resentment in Shreya's tone as she passed several pages of the book, "There's a whole lot on the second wand. It's always been there - in existence - and my mother never once mentioned it to me!" she slammed the book shut, making Carlos flinch beside her. "The wand is meant to be mine. It says it everywhere. They're twins, and can only be accessed by mother and daughter."

"How'd that one not get destroyed then?" Jay asked.

"It says my mom created it right before she was captured. She'd only just finished it and they took it and eventually placed it in the museum."

"Okay, so can it help us now?"

"She doesn't have powers, Jay," Carlos got up from the bench and went to Dude who was busy digging into the ground.

"And I can't lend it to Mal because she's not my mother's bloodline," Shreya groaned.

"So, after an hour or so, we come to the conclusion that the wands are useless," Jay set his duffel bag on the table with a thud, not even bothering to hide his disappointment.

Shreya made a face at the school-colored bag now covering Mal's spellbook. "What's that?"

"Oh, I joined the fencing team," Jay said, unsurprisingly happy.

"I thought you were just part of that whole tourney team…?"

"I am," Jay nodded. "But then Ben said I should try fencing and what do you know? I'm _good_ at that too! I think I can give you a run for your money."

Apparently, Shreya didn't share his joy. "As if. I have to go," she declared and abruptly got up.

"Why?" Jay frowned at her sudden departure.

"Because if I hear one more good thing about Ben I might snap _you_ in two," Shreya snatched Mal's spell book from under the duffel bag and hurriedly marched off. She left behind a terribly confused Jay and Carlos.

~0~

When Mal and Evie returned to their dorms, Shreya had done nothing but look through spells. Shreya was lying down on her bed, with her feet supporting themselves on the headboard. Her arms were extended up and had a book over her face.

"Hey, I thought we were going to meet outside by the benches?" Mal walked to her bed, confused, and let her school things fall however they went on the bed. Evie closed the door behind them.

"For Jay's and Carlos' security I had to leave," Shreya responded calmly.

"Why?" Evie made a face and promptly sat down on her own bed, letting her bag fall to the floor.

Shreya lowered her arms and rested her book over her chest. "Let's just say I'm a little annoyed that Ben seems to be popping up in every conversation I have with someone."

"Okay, well, forget that - did you find something useful?" Mal asked.

Shreya sighed. "The wands of our bloodline are useless until my mother gets Fairy Godmother's wand."

"But the one that's meant for you-"

"Is useless to me, Mal. I don't have powers like my Mom. That's why she never told me about the second one."

"And there's nothing in the spellbook…?"

"Not from where I can see."

"We are so dead," Mal let herself fall to her bed.

Evie hummed as she went through her makeup bag. "We shouldn't give up on it so fast. The coronation is still a decent amount away."

"But we can't get the wand from the museum, Evie!" Mal was rubbing her forehead, close to her frustration point.

"Well, in the meantime, we can start picking our outfits for Ben's coronation."

Shreya groaned and pulled her book over her face. "What did I say about Ben being mentioned?" her muffled words flew over Evie's head. "No one mention him!"

Evie had risen from her bed and gone for her sewing desk where she intended on finishing Shreya's casual dress she'd promised. "Well, I found out that fairy godmother blesses Ben with the wand at coronation and we all get to go. But of course I have nothing to wear so I imagine neither of you have something as well."

Mal sprang up in an instant. "What did you say!?"

"Hmm?" Evie glanced her way, clueless of what had brought Mal's attention.

"The coronation - you said Fairy Godmother blessed Ben with her wand?"

Evie nodded to Mal's question.

Shreya purposely groaned louder. "Stop mentioning him!"

"Shreya!" Mal called, assuming that because of the book over Shreya's face she was not hearing them properly. "Shreya!"

"Stop mentioning the stupid-"

"Shreya, listen! The wand!" Mal's voice cut through Shreya's complaints and forced her to pull the book from her face.

"What?" Shreya tilted her head backwards to see Mal better, however upside down.

"Evie just said the wand will be used at the coronation!"

Shreya's eyes widened and she quickly turned over to lay on her stomach. "Hold up, what!?"

"This is great, we don't need to steal it from the museum then! We just need to be up front at the coronation!" Mal laughed, completely relieved their mission would turn out to be much easier.

"That's going to be tough," Evie cut through some new fabric, totally immersed in her work.

"Why?" Mal sent her a sharp look.

"Because currently the only one that can get us a front row view of the wand is mad at our sorceress friend."

Mal slowly turned her head to Shreya. "You…" she started pointing at Shreya while coming towards her.

"What?" Shreya blinked.

"You need to go apologize to Ben right now!"

"What!?"

"You have to get back on his good side!"

"Excuse you!? You want me to-"

"Sh! Sh! Sh!" Mal put a finger on her lips to signal Shreya to let her talk. "We _need_ to be in that front row to get the wand and Ben won't let us if he's mad with you."

"Mal, you can't-"

Mal had bent down to look at Shreya in the eyes. "You have to get him to let us be at that coronation _front row."_

"Besides, he's not bad," Evie hadn't stopped working. "He already offered to sign Mal up for art classes too." Shreya snatched a pillow and threw it at the back of Evie's head. "Ow!" Evie rubbed her head and sent her a pout. "I was only saying."

Shreya wasn't having it but Mal got her attention again. "You need to go and apologize. Do whatever it takes but get us in that front row. Alright?"

Shreya had a long stare down with Mal, her insides just churning at the idea of _apologizing_ to someone, and much less Ben. But she knew Mal was right. It was the only way to be close to the wand and she couldn't ruin that. "Fine."

~0~

Knowing her perfectly, Mal intended on seeing Shreya go through with her task. She herself, along with Evie, we're walking Shreya through the school to find Ben. Shreya was squished between the two girls but no matter how much she complained neither budged.

"I said I'd do it! Why are you coming!?"

"Because, dear Shreya-" Mal patted Shreya's arm, "-you have a tendency of not doing what you said you would."

"What!?" Shreya's hair flipped with her when she snapped her head to Mal. "Name one time!"

"You were meant to come play a trick on Captain Hook with Uma and I but never showed up. You were supposed to change the hair dye in Evil Stepmom's hair salon but wimped out in the end. You were also supposed to steal the coat from Cru-"

"Okay!" Shreya loudly cut her off. "So I tend not to follow through but that's only because-"

"You didn't have the villain in you," Mal finished with a smirk. Shreya's mouth fell open, obviously offended. "But that's okay because now you have the chance to show your mom that you _do_."

"He's right there," Evie stopped their argument to point up ahead to the tables where Ben was, seemingly doing some school work.

"You know what to do," Mal reminded yet sounded so much like a warning. Evie handed Shreya her bag and gave her an encouraging nod. " _Go_ ," Mal pushed Shreya forwards. Shreya took a couple steps towards the tables but stopped, nervously, and glanced back at her friends. "Go!" Mal ordered and shooed her off.

Shreya took a breath in, cursed her friends silently, and started walking. While she did, Mal and Evie went tiptoeing behind.

"Shouldn't we go?" Evie whispered to Mal.

"Weren't you paying attention? Shreya's our friend but she always ends up avoiding the dirty work."

"What's wrong with being clean?" Evie asked innocently. "I like - ah!" Mal had yanked her behind a tree close enough to get a good view at Ben's table but not enough to listen.

"Not that kind of clean, Evie! Now sh!" Mal pointed at Shreya who was finally nearing Ben's table.

Shreya had doubled up on courage and sat down opposite of Ben. "Okay listen," she said, ignoring Ben's surprised look, "I'm not good at this. I told you before that I don't know how to respond to situations where…" she made a hand gesture as the words failed to come to her mind.

"You're sorry?" Ben raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement playing across his face.

Shreya's face was narrowed. "Are you having fun?"

"A bit, yeah."

Shreya could not take his teasing smiles and reached forwards to slam the book in front of him shut. "Well I'm not!" Ben's amusement was closing into a laugh. "Why are you laughing? I thought you were mad?"

"I was, for a bit," Ben admitted. "Then I realized you were only acting how you were meant to act on the Isle. It's different here, in Auradon, and you're just barely learning. If anything, I'm sorry too for not understanding."

For the first couple of minutes, Shreya only blinked.

Even from their hiding spot, Mal poked her head out from behind the tree, trying to listen.

Evie poked her head above Mal's and scrunched her face. "What's happening?" she asked.

"I can't hear," Mal wished she had her spellbook at the moment to find a way to listen in on the conversation.

Shreya had not been able to digest Ben's words properly and seemed completely lost. "I don't...why would…" her mouth opened and closed several times without proper sentences flowing out, "...that doesn't make sense! Why- _why_ are you apologizing to _me? I_ was the one that was meant to apologize. That's-that's how it goes, right?"

"You're asking me if it's right to apologize?" Ben couldn't help chuckle. "See, Auradon is already helping you."

Shreya blinked. "I...stop talking like that to me!" she growled. She put her bag on the table and pulled out a book where Mal had stuck in the History curriculum papers. "I just...I looked at them, okay? I really did." Unbeknownst to her friends, Shreya had given the papers a thorough look before she'd gotten the idea that there was a double intention with them.

Ben was now eagerly awaiting to hear her thoughts over his work. "And? Do you think it's good?"

Shreya got up and moved around the table and took a seat beside him. "Overall...yeah, it was." There was a little flip in Shreya's stomach when Ben's face lit up.

From afar, Mal was trying her best to listen. "Ah! What are they doing!?" she frowned.

Evie was smiling giddily. "Aw, I think they're not mad at each other anymore."

Mal's eyes drifted upwards to Evie, as they were still just poking heads out from the tree. "We're trying to get the _wand_ , remember?"

"Sh, look," Evie put a finger on her lips and pointed Mal to the benches.

Shreya and Ben had started looking over the papers together, and just a bit closer too.

Mal smirked. "Well, as long as it works. Front row seats here we come," she bumped fists with Evie.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hey there! Sorry for the late update but I'm back in school this week so my updates will be changing a bit, hopefully not too much! So,, whaddya think about this chapter? I debated whether or not to have Shreya kinda go against the whole curriculum just because she _is_ from the Isle and used to not trusting people. It's just their norm. Hopefully a certain prince can change that with time? ;)

 **For the Reviews:**

Thank you! I hope it gets even better with the next chapters ;)

Yeah, I think I would be both of them too xD. Oooh we're not done with Elle anytime soon so we'll be seeing more of her. Let's see what happens...

Thank you so much! I hope you continue liking what I have in store for the story!

* * *

Well, as usual, thank you all for reading and those who commented. Let me hear some more thoughts about this new chapter? Until next time!


	7. I Put A Spell On You

"I can't believe we're back here again," Jay complained as he and Shreya walked into their history classroom.

"Calm down, Jay. We're just here to pick up the coursework," Shreya reminded him, actually calm herself.

"I threw away my history book."

"Yes, you have to get a new one."

"Shreya…" Jay stopped her in front of the class door.

Shreya turned around, smiling at her friend. "Jay, it's okay. Ben arranged for us, Mal, Evie and Carlos to take our history course as independent studies until he can implement the new curriculum." She opened the door and walked in. "Just relax."

As they came in, they ignored several of the bad stares the students were giving them. However, now that days were passing and the Isle teens were getting to know more of the Auradons, there were many students that were actually _liking_ them. Jay was already becoming popular amongst some of the girls and of course with his teammates who saw Jay as their winning ticket into the finals of their games. Evie was making herself known with her designs and Mal with her spell book that gave girls better hair. Carlos was becoming a fanatic of dogs, contrary to the popular belief of his mother's reputation, and was meeting several people who favored animals as well. Shreya, too, was getting to know some of the girls better, and even some of the boys who thought her to be good at swordship. Shreya was a bit upset to find out that there was no girls team for fencing, something she deeply shared with Lonnie.

The two girls, along with Mal, discussed this matter while walking down the track of the school field. During this, the cheerleaders were warming up for their practice session while the boys, which included the yet-to-be-initiated Carlos and Jay, finished up their own practice session.

"I've always wanted to join but there's never enough girls to create a female fencing team," Lonnie was relaying her trouble with the girls. "But maybe if you two join, others might be persuaded to."

"No thanks," Mal shot the idea down quick. "I don't do fencing."

"No, we do actual _swords_ ," Shreya laughed, but her gaze seemed to be stuck on the cheerleading team. "I could give Captain Hook a run for his money...if he wasn't insane."

Mal snorted. "It's more fun that way."

"Wait, you guys have actually battled Captain Hook?" Lonnie blinked at the two.

"Not so much 'battled'...more like...tricked…" Mal was close to laughing and nudged Shreya beside her, "Right, Shreya?" But Shreya hadn't answered. Mal followed her gaze to the cheerleading squad and pretended to gag. "Shreya!" she whacked the girl on the arm.

"Hm?"

"Don't tell me you actually want to join the cheerleading squad?"

But before Shreya could answer, they heard the tease of their other friends who were approaching them.

"No way, Shreya...as a _cheerleader_?" Jay made a terrible face that only served to annoy Shreya. "That's a sight to see!"

"You going to do the little cheers and the claps?" Carlos laughed with Jay.

Shreya narrowed her eyes, about to retort with some insult about their own skills, when someone else came to her rescue.

"I think she would be good," Ben had come up behind Jay and Carlos with that usual smile of his.

"I think so too," Lonnie went ahead and agreed.

"I could talk to Audrey about it if you'd like," Ben offered then glanced to Mal. "You want to try out too?"

Mal looked plainly horrified at the idea. " _Gross_!" Everyone around her laughed.

"Okay, maybe Evie?"

"Evie's not about the sweating life," Mal said and briefly glanced at Shreya. "And frankly, cheerleading is...so _perky_. Completely Auradon. Isn't that right, Shreya?" she elbowed Shreya on the ribs, hoping to knock some sense into her.

It seemed to do the trick.

Shreya blinked and tore her gaze from the cheerleaders. "Totally. It's so... _eugh_."

Her pretend shiver wasn't enough to convince Ben. He had seen Mal's influence on the girl and inwardly sighed. Why must they try so hard to dislike the things they clearly like. "Are you sure?"

"Really sure," Shreya had responded fast. "Besides, I hate your girlfriend and your best friend and I'm pretty sure they hate me. It's probably in everyone's best interest that I stay away from the team."

"Okay...if that's what you want," Ben said, though he knew for a fact it wasn't what she wanted.

"Actually, Ben-" Lonnie spoke up, "-I was hoping to somehow get started on that girls fencing team. Shreya is actually _really_ good so I figured maybe people might want to give it a try too."

"Fencing?" Carlos raised an eyebrow. "You want to give Shreya a sword? Really?"

"She's really good!"

"We know," went both Jay and Carlos flatly, something about their faces telling the two Auradon kids they had bad experiences with it.

"That's why we never give her one," Jay frowned. "When she gets mad she uses it!"

"Don't make me mad, then," Shreya smirked.

"You fence?" Ben asked her.

"Well on the Isle there's no actual fencing. It's more swording for your life...or whatever it is you want to get."

"She's really good," Lonnie promised. "I think she could give Queen Elena a good battle."

"What?" Shreya quickly looked at Lonnie, as did the rest of the Isle teens. "What do you mean?"

Lonnie realized her mistake all too quick. Even Ben was making a cutting motion across his neck.

"Lonnie?" came Shreya's sharp voice.

"Uh, it's just, well…" Lonnie sighed. "Queen Elena of Avalor is known to be the best fencer of all of Auradon."

Shreya's face fell completely. "Suddenly, I'm not interested. Sorry Lonnie."

Lonnie was confused and with great deal. "Wait, but I thought-"

"I have to get to class, bye," Shreya muttered and walked off.

Mal was annoyed that once again Shreya had not taken the opportunity to ask Ben what she was meant to ask for days now. It was part of that 'wimping out' thing Shreya always ended up doing. Well, if Shreya wasn't going to do it then she would have to.

"Hey, Ben, is it true that we all get to go to your coronation?" she asked, and instantly Jay and Carlos stiffened. Ben had been distracted by the fact he was staring after Shreya. Mal followed his gaze and rolled her eyes. "Ben!"

"Yes!" he exclaimed.

"Did you hear me? Is it true about your coronation? We all get to go?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, the whole school goes."

Mal exchanged quick looks with Jay and Carlos before asking the dire question. "Would it be possible for my friends and I to be there up front to, you know-" she plastered on the most convincing smile ever, "-soak up all that goodness?"

Ben smiled, truly believing in her. "Sorry, Mal. Up front it's just me, my folks, my future counselor and my girlfriend."

Mal raised her eyebrows. "And your girlfriend?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, Mal. You guys can sit with me and Doug," Lonnie offered. "

Mal surprisingly maintained her smile. "Yeah, yeah, that...that sounds good."

The bell rang indicating it was time for those who had classes to actually be in their classes.

"C'mon guys," Mal said to Jay and Carlos, barely able to hold back her smirk. "We should get to our classes."

As Jay and Carlos followed behind her, they began asking her questions over the future of their plans.

"How are we going to get the wand now if we can't be up close?" Jay asked.

"Is it back to stealing it from the museum, then?" Carlos dreaded the idea of going back to the museum.

"Nope," Mal replied, surprisingly calm for them.

"No?" they both repeated.

"We don't need to. Didn't you hear what Ben said?" Mal stopped and turned to them.

"Uh…" Carlos looked at Jay, both equally confused, "...did _you_ hear what Ben said?"

"I heard," Mal assured. "Only his family, his stupid best friend and girlfriend get to be up there."

"And...you're calm because…?" Jay scratched his head.

"Because I get the feeling that Bennyboo is about to get himself a new girlfriend," Mal's smirk impossibly widened.

~0~

"You want to _what_!?" Shreya nearly had a heart attack after hearing Mal's plan.

"Oh, that's good!" Evie beamed, even doing a little clap until Shreya pushed her hands down.

"No! It's not! It's-"

"The only way we'll get to the wand!" Mal pushed open the school's kitchen doors. She walked to an empty table and put down her spellbook which had a bookmarked page.

"But...to perform a _love_ spell on Ben?" something about the plan didn't settle right with Shreya. Ben had, so far, done his best to make them all feel welcomed. "Okay, maybe Audrey isn't the perfect fit for Ben but to spell him?" she watched helplessly as Jay and Carlos ransacked the kitchen for cookie ingredients while Evie went in search for utensils. "But to force him to fall in love with one of us just seems plain…"

" _Villainous_?" Mal finished for her with a 'duh' look written across her face. Shreya sighed. "Shreya, this is what we are. We're _villains_. We're bad. Don't you want your mother to be proud of you for once?"

"Well...yes, but…"

"Good, so tomorrow you're going to give the cookie to Ben and you'll make _sure_ that he looks at _you_ afterwards."

Shreya nearly fell over. " _Me_!? He's supposed to fall in love with _me_!?"

Once more, Mal had 'duh' across her face. Evie came by with the bowl and whisk. Mal quickly took the cookie dough and dumped it into the bowl.

"Wh-why me?" Shreya frowned, pointing at herself. "Why can't it be you?" she directed her finger at Mal then switched to Evie. "Or you?"

"It's better if there's already some feelings in the mix so this way it'll be more effective," Mal had answered so calmly while she dumped in all the needed ingredients apart from the cookie batter.

Shreya's face went bright red at the accusation. "E-excuse me!? Wh-why would you...I don't... _he_ doesn't…" she sputtered and only amused her friends.

"Denial, party of oooone," Evie teasingly sang.

"Shut it!" Shreya pointed warningly at her.

Mal rolled her eyes and stopped mixing the batter to glance at the spell book. "All right. It says that we still need one tear, and I never cry."

Carlos, who had taken a seat on a nearby table reached into a crate next to him and pulled out an onion. "Let's just chop up some onions."

"No!" Mal shot them down. "It says that we need one tear of human sadness. And this love potion gets the best reviews, so we have to follow it exactly."

Jay took the onion from Carlos and tossed it in the air. "A tear's a tear."

"That's not true, Jay," Evie shook her head. "They both have antibodies and enzymes, but an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear."

"Listen to you," Mal drawled.

"Yeah, I knew that," Jay tried to play cool as he put the onion behind him.

"Did not," Shreya rolled her eyes.

"There you are, Mal!" Lonnie surprised them as she slipped into the room. Mal quickly dropped a towel over her spellbook. "I was looking for you. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair!" she laid eyes on the bowl and smiled. "Midnight snack, huh? What you guys making?"

Shreya sent her friends a disapproving glare. "Nothing special. Just cookies."

Lonnie peered over the bowl and suddenly dipped her finger and sucked the dough off it.

"Oh, no, no!" went the entire group. "Wait, wait, wait!"

Lonnie blinked, confused of their responses. "What? I'm not gonna double dip."

But the group feared she'd be affected too.

"Feel anything?" Shreya cautiously asked.

"It might be missing something," Lonnie said thoughtfully. "Like some chips!" she dashed for the fridge.

"Chips?" the Isle teens repeated.

"And those are…" Mal stared at the small glass bowl Lonnie had pulled out from the fridge. There were bits of dark chocolate inside.

"Chocolate chips," Lonnie said, thinking it was obvious. "Just the most important food group." As she sprinkled the chocolate chips into the cookie dough bowl, the Isle teens leaned over to see them. Lonnie realized that this must be their first time seeing chocolate chips. "Wait, didn't your moms ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies?" the group all seemed to agree to pout at the same time. Lonnie couldn't believe none of them could relate. "Like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven, with a big old glass of milk, and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective and…" she trailed off, the others were merely giving her these sad puppy faces, "...why are you all looking at me like that?"

Shreya rubbed her arm and willed herself to look at Lonnie. "It's just different where we're from."

Lonnie could see that but she honestly didn't think it had been _that_ different. "Yeah, I know. I just, you know, I thought...even villains love their kids." She smiled awkwardly at the group but no one could muster up even a fake smile.

Of course there weren't any cookies to make you feel better. Most days on the Isle you were lucky to have a parent there while you fell asleep. Even then, most of the time they didn't actually _sleep_ at night. The night was for when stealing and playing tricks was better. And cookies? All of their food was second-hand imported from Auradon and it was usually expired or close to expiring. There were rarely any 'cookies'.

"Oh…" Lonnie's eyes flickered from one friend to the next, until her own eyes became teary. "How awful."

Mal seized the opportunity to get one fresh human tear and ran a finger right under Lonnie's eye that had just released said tear. "Yeah, well, big bummer-" she dropped the tear into the bowl without Lonnie noticing, "-but we have to get these into the oven, so thank you so much for coming by!"

Shreya and Jay ushered Lonnie out the door. "Evil dreams!" Shreya called as Lonnie got a move on.

"Okay, boys, cookie sheet," Mal clapped her hands together and had Carlos and Jay retrieve the sheets needed. "Evie, oven!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Evie hurried to the oven to get it open and ready.

Shreya, uneasily, watched Mal get ready to put the dough on the sheets. She would be going to sleep, or so she thought, thinking about the spell she was supposed to be taking part of.

~ 0 ~

The next day, a groggy Shreya met up with her friends by Mal's locker. Well, Evie was having a small chit-chat with a group of girls sitting at the nearest table. Carlos and Jay had come out from the hallway, both holding their sports' gear since they had a big game in just a bit.

Jay stopped by Mal's locker who was currently putting away her books. "Are you feeling kind of weird about this?" Jay asked her, his facial expressions giving a vibe that he was about to back out. "I mean...it's not so bad here, you know. And, I feel kinda bad with Shreya..."

"Are you insane?" Mal increduliously asked. "You're mean! You're awful! You're bad news! Snap out of it!"

Jay nodded, replaying the words in his mind to make sure they stuck. He could definitely not be backing out. "Thanks, Mal. I needed that. But, you know, about Shreya..."

Mal put a finger to her lips when she saw Shreya coming out of the hallway. "The plan will work okay? But we have to sell it."

"Mal?" Shreya came directly up to Mal, looking pretty concerned. "Can we talk about this spell thing? I-I thought about it...actually, that's _all_ I did last night, and...well..." she sighed, "I can't. I just can't do it. I can't give Ben that stupid love spell."

Mal discreetly glanced at Jay, and even Evie and Carlos who'd turned from the rails to face them. "We thought about it too, actually," Mal began, "And we realized the love spell might be a little...too cruel, you know? Plus, it might not even work. It's a serious spell, after all."

Shreya's face lit up. "Really? Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Mal clapped a hand on Shreya's arm. "As a joke, even, we made these actual cookies for us to have." She reached inside her locker and took out a plastic bag of cookies.

"Really?" Shreya raised an eyebrow. "When'd you do that?"

"This morning. Want one?" Mal pulled out a chocolate chip cookie and took a big bite out of it. Shreya keenly watched her chew and swallow it down. "Here," Mal gave the plastic bag over to Shreya then reached inside her locker again. "I made two batches. Turns out I love chocolate chip cookies!"

"Thanks," Shreya said slowly and went ahead to offer her friends some of the cookies. "So, if we're not doing the love spell, how are we going to get the wand?"

"I'll think of something," Mal winked and closed her locker door. She spotted Ben having a conversation with an annoyed-looking Audrey. "But for now we need to stay on Ben's good side. Watch and learn," she waited just till Audrey stalked away from Ben then called out to him.

"Hey guys," Ben brightly greeted the group. He soon spotted the cookies everyone was munching on and chuckled. "You guys found the cookie dough stash we keep hidden?"

Shreya stopped chewing. "That was someone's stash?"

Mal threw her a disbelieving look. Was Shreya just progressively becoming an Auradon softie now?

Ben had himself another laugh. "No, no, not at all! I mean, yeah it's our stash - as in the students' - that we keep hidden in the fridges. But glad you guys found it."

"You want one?" Mal offered her own bad of cookies.

"Oh, I, uh, I've got a big game...and I don't eat before a big game..."

"It's one cookie, Ben, it's not going to do you harm," Mal tilted her head, a sort of challenging expression taking over her face. "Unless...oh, oh I get it. I completely understand. Be careful of treats offered by kids of villains."

Ben became alarmed and fast. "No, no, no-"

"No, I'm sure every kid in Auradon knows that," Mal pretended to sigh.

"No, that's not it-" Ben briefly looked past her to Shreya who was attentively watching him and his words. "I'm not...no!"

"You're cautious. That's smart," Mal innocently lowered her plastic bag. "Oh, well, more for us, I guess."

"No, no - hey!" Ben snatched the bag and took out a cookie, quickly biting into it. "See that?" he asked, his words slightly muffled from the cookie bits in his mouth. "Totally trust you." He made sure to leave that clarified for Shreya who smiled in return.

Mal quickly stepped out out of the way, as did the rest of the group. Shreya barely paid attention to them as she was trying her best not to laugh at Ben who was struggling to swallow down what he ate.

"Maybe next time take a smaller bite," she teased.

"Noted," Ben took another bite of his cookie, leaving just a small bit left between his fingers. "These are actually really good, you know. Did you help?"

"No, uh, Mal made them," Shreya replied and took out another cookie from her bag. "Seems like you can bake, Mal."

Mal's eyes were flickering between Shreya and Ben, unable to keep her wide smile hidden. "Thanks, Shreya. I made sure they were just right."

"Yeah, I mean, they're chewy..." Ben began to blink a little quicker than normal, "...and, and you know, they...is that walnuts?"

"Chocolate," Shreya helped him.

"The chocolate...the... the chocolate...the chocolate chips are..."

Shreya tilted her head. "Ben, are you okay?"

Ben shook his head as if to snap out of some trance. "I'm sorry, um..."

Shreya could tell that there was definitely something going on with him. She put a hand on his arm and ducked just a bit to meet his gaze that'd fallen to the ground between them. "Ben? Are you...Ben?"

The rest of the group smirked at each other.

"Ben?" Shreya snapped her fingers. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Shreya, have you always had those little hazel flecks in your eyes?" Ben surprised her with instead.

Shreya's eyebrows knitted together at the odd question that just sprung out of nowhere. It only took a couple of seconds to realize what had happened. Her eyes widened and immediately flickered to Mal. " _Youuuu_ -" she pointed a threatening finger at Mal.

"I made two batches!" Mal said proudly, raising her hands in her excitement.

Jay clapped a hand on Ben's shoulders. "How you feeling, bro?"

Shreya was nearly fuming at Mal with her gritted teeth. "Mal-"

"I feel... I feel..." Ben thought hard, "I feel like...like singing your name. Shreyaaaa-"

Shreya clapped her own had over his mouth. "I don't do singing! I'm like my mother - I hate music!"

"Lies," went Carlos but he quickly backed up when Shreya glared his way.

Underneath Shreya's palm, she could feel Ben trying to sing again.

 _What had Mal done_?

~ 0 ~

"I just can't believe you did this - no, wait," Shreya stopped midway through her climb up the field bleachers, "I actually _can_. Mal, you tricked me! You said we weren't doing the love spell anymore!"

Mal was leading the way up the bleachers to find somewhere to sit. The boys' big game was going to start in a fifteen minutes and there was already a good audience taking their places. Behind Shreya, Evie pushed her gently to continue.

"Mal! What - you're not even going to give me an explanation? I think I deserve one, don't you think? Considering I now have the Prince of Auradon trailing after me like some idiot puppy-"

"Oh calm down Shreya," Mal calmly cut her off. "Once we have the wand you can use the antidote if it bothers you so much. Or-" she turned just as they'd found a good spot midway up the bleachers, "-if you want to be truly evil we could leave it!"

"Mal!" Shreya reddened in the face.

Mal sighed. "Okay, look, we knew that in the end you weren't going to go through with the spell so we had to take precautions."

"What..." Shreya's anger was exchanged for a look of hurt, "...you thought I would fail you?" she asked softly.

Evie uncomfortably looked at Mal, silently pleading for an answer that wouldn't make them seem completely vicious to their friend. Mal rubbed her forehead. "Yes, no, well...not 'fail' but...Shreya, you just have a tendency to back out in the end. We talked about it, remember?"

Shreya glanced at Evie to see what she thought. Evie bit her lip. "Shreya, you're our friend all, but...it _has_ happened on multiple occasions."

" _Many_ occasions," Mal corrected with a finger while her other hand rested on her hip. She boredly looked out to the field where the cheerleaders were getting ready.

"Not helping," Evie mumbled as she took in Shreya's disappointment. "We talked about it last night-"

" _Without_ me?" Shreya cut her off, her eyebrows rising in a totally offended manner. "You talked about how I would fail...behind my back."

"N-n-n-no! That's not it!" Evie quickly tried to amend her error of words. "We know that you would help us just...when it wasn't with such a big spell. Right, Mal?"

"Shreya, what's the big deal? We just took precautions," Mal shrugged. "I'll give you the antidote in the end."

"You thought I would _fail_ , that's the big deal! You basically thought I was a failure so big I wouldn't even be able to do a love spell!" Shreya exclaimed. "I know my mother tends to think that about me but my own friends?"

Mal put her hands on Shreya's shoulders. "You are _not_ a failure, Shreya. You just...have some odd soft moments, that's all. You know getting the wand is important and we have to do whatever it takes."

Shreya knew that, she did, but it still rather hurt to know her friends had a conversation about her concerning her constant failures to be a truly villainous woman. Her mother often had those talks with the other parents, sometimes right in front of her. They hurt her. It wasn't like she purposely did it. She was up to be mean and vicious and whatnot, but when it came time to actually do some of the deeds...she just couldn't. Something pulled her back.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

You guys, I'm so excited for this story. I'm so close to finishing this story in my drafts! And I already have plans to go onto the second movie and, hopefully, do some of the book plotlines! I do just have one question for you guys: for this story, would you like me to write 'Set it Off' as the last chapter? Or can I skip it? Totally up to you!

P.S I totally could not help myself naming the chapter like this...I'm in the Halloween spirit!

 **For the Reviews:**

I just totally laughed when I read your comment xD. Tsk, task at that temper!

Thank you so much! Hope you liked the newest chapter!

* * *

That's pretty much it for now guys! As usual, feel free to comment if you'd like! Until next time!


	8. Suspicions & Deep Secrets

"I have no idea what is going on in this stupid game," Shreya said for the tenth time while they watched the big Tourney game.

"Neither do I," Evie said despite having cheered probably more than Shreya, Mal and Lonnie put together. They had a suspicion it dealt more with Chad than the actual game.

"Hold on, they're bringing in Carlos," Mal laughed. "He said he wasn't good."

"Jay's idea of a good laugh, then?" Shreya suggested. It wouldn't be the first time Jay had pulled something that would inevitably lead others to laugh at Carlos. It was their normal relationship on the Isle.

The game commentator was also highly surprised of Carlos' sudden entry into the game. Neither girl of the Isle was pleased to hear how they introduced Jay and Carlos as 'that hothead Jay in from the Isle of the lost and that little guy Carlos can barely hold a shield'.

"Should we get maybe a healing spell ready?" Shreya whispered to Mal while both, and Evie, attentively watched the game begin anew.

"Yeah, probably," Mal winced as Jay knocked down some of their rivals.

"Look! Look!" Evie cheered when Carlos managed to block a blow that would have tarnished Jay's speedy run towards their rival's goalie.

"My God, they're doing it!" Shreya had to rub her eyes just to make sure that they were seeing alright.

"There he goes!" even Mal was joining in on the cheering.

Jay had passed the ball to Ben, who somehow grew nearer to the goalie but at the last moment had to pass it Jay again. Chad blocked one of the rivals and allowed Jay a clear shot at the goalie. Unfortunately, the goalie managed to block it.

"So close," Lonnie lamented but soon reminded they still had 23 seconds to win the game.

"This is stressing," Shreya admitted but continued watching as the last round started.

Once more, the ball was switched from several Auradon players. In one of those, Carlos had been knocked down trying to block one of the others. However, Jay passed by and picked him right up...and went straight for the 'kill zone' whuch was just a long path with many shots thrown the player's way.

"Get that healing spell ready," Shreya said Mal as they watched Carlos take several hits in the kill zone.

When Jay crossed the kill zone he saw that his way to the rival goalie wasn't as ear as it needed to be. He noticed Ben was just at the right spot and decided to throw the ball over. Ben then made the needed, winning, score.

The crowd erupted in cheers for Auradon.

"Jay and Carlos worked _together_ ," Shreya raised her eyebrows.

"Now I've seen everything," Mal snorted and the girls laughed.

Everyone cheered until, somehow, Ben got through the team and up to the commentator's stage. "Excuse me. Can I have your attention, please? There's something I'd like to say. Give me an 'S'!"

"S" repeated the audience .

"Give me an 'H'!"

"H!"

"Give me an 'R'!"

"R!"

"Give me an 'E'!"

"E!"

Shreya, of course, put the pieces together before Ben finished spelling out her name. Once more, she snapped her head at Mal. "You're gonna wanna use that healing spell on _you_ instead of Carlos because when I'm done with you you'll be-"

"I love you, Shreya!" Ben's confession cut off Shreya's sure-to-be dire threat against Mal.

"WHAT!?" Shreya nearly fell over if Evie hadn't grabbed onto her arms. "Mal!"

The purple-haired girl burst into laughter.

Things only got worse for Shreya when Ben broke into a random dance number. Shreya latched hands into Mal and Evie, her voice shaky as she warned Mal, "You are so _dead,_ Mal."

"What was in that cookie!?" Mal laughed instead.

"My poor idiot," Shreya watched helplessly yet amused as Ben dedicated a song just for her.

" _My_?" Evie raised an eyebrow at her, a small smirk tugging at her lips. Shreya was mortified and looked away.

When all was said and done, much to a dismay of Shreya, Ben came running up to her. "I love you, Shreya! Did I mention that?"

"A couple...times…" Shreya uncomfortably replied.

Audrey, who was raging and with good reasons, had also made her way up to their bleachers with Chad. She snatched the microphone in Ben's hand. "Chad's my boyfriend now! And I'm going to the coronation with him. So I don't need your pity date." And just to show she meant to business, she grabbed Chad and kissed him.

Ben could not care less. He took back the microphone from Audrey and excitedly looked at Shreya. "Shreya! Will you go to the coronation with me?"

Shreya blinked, completely caught off guard. Mal elbowed her on the side, because of course there was only one thing Shreya needed to say. "Y-yes."

"She said yes!" Ben exclaimed, having cheers from the rest of the crowd. Audrey growled and stomped down the bleachers with Chad. Ben was happy enough to try going for a kiss with Shreya but the girl was far too out of it to let it be. She leaned away and awkwardly smiled. Thankfully, Carlos came by to take Ben back to the rest of the team.

As she calmed down, she noticed Evie's downfallen face. It was of course because Chad had now gotten himself a new girlfriend, and while none of her friends actually liked Chad very much, Shreya still felt for Evie.

"I feel really sorry for Audrey," Shreya said, silently glancing at Mal for some help.

"You do?" Evie quietly asked.

"Oh yeah," Mal went ahead ad chimed in. "If she were talented like you, and she knew how to sew and knew beauty tips, that she wouldn't need a prince to make her feel better about herself."

Slowly, a smile came back to grace Evie's lips. "I guess I **am** kind of talented."

" _Way_ beyond talented," Shreya agreed.

Evie laughed . "Thanks."

"Guys, look," Mal pointed down to the fields just as Jay was picked up by his teammates.

Jay had been voted the most valuable player. It was truly...an unforgettable game.

~0~

Days passed and while the school seemed to be moving on from the tourney game, others were simply refusing it.

Elle stopped by the table where the group of Isle teens were having their lunch, specifically right beside Shreya. Without warning, and her usual politeness, she directed a very cold greeting towards Shreya.

"Surprising to see you here instead of cuddling with my best friend."

Mal smirked as she dropped a grape into her mouth. "Jealous?"

"Not in the least," Elle left it clear. There was something about her unusual cold tone that seemed...like it _fit_ with her. "I know my best friend, so I know when something is wrong with him."

"And you're telling us, because…?" Shreya raised an eyebrow, doing her best to look unaffected by what clearly was Elle's suspicions.

Elle looked at each and every single teen at the table. "I know that Ben trusts you blindly, but I don't. I never have."

"You're the one that helped bring us here," Jay felt the need to remind.

"With caution," Elle once again clarified. "I'm all for giving chances for those who _want_ it. But I doubt you casting some spell on Ben means you want that chance."

"Those are some very severe accusations you're making," Mal innocently picked up another grape. "Any evidence?"

"And she means besides Audrey's complaints," Evie took a sip from her glass.

"What's the big deal?" Carlos then asked. "It's not like Ben was really into Audrey. Everyone could see. Even _you_."

Elle's jaw tightened. Of course she saw it. "Ben doesn't just go switching girlfriends in the matter of one day. _That's_ the big deal."

"Don't you have anything better to do than annoy us?" Mal had a bored expression on, something that annoyed Elle.

"This is serious! I know you did something to Ben! I was wrong, you're all nothing but villains looking for a way to be wicked just for kicks!"

Shreya slammed a hand on the table and rose up to face Elle. Her friends were then on high alert seeing as the famous amulet of Avalor was just inches from Shreya. "You and I can go at it if you'd like, but you leave my friends out of it or the next thing you know you'll find yourself in a tight spot...in a locker."

"Oh, now you're threatening me? With a _locker_?" Elle couldn't look less impressed. "Is that what big, bad Shreya, daughter of the most evilest sorceress, can do to me?"

"Come to the Isle and I guarantee you I can do worse." Shreya suddenly laughed. "No, wait, you'd never make five steps in."

"You don't know me, Shreya-"

Shreya pushed Elle back a couple steps, and immediately the rest of her friends got up in case Elle retaliated with the amulet. "You don't know _me_! While you played with your stupid dollies, at age seven I could sword anyone who crossed my way. Captain Hook, _who_?"

Elle blinked. There was a strange ferocity in Shreya's eyes that surprised her. She didn't think Shreya had in her. With one last look at Shreya and her friends, Elle turned around and stormed away.

"Alright Shreya!" Jay exclaimed with a haughty laugh.

Shreya turned to her friends who were all wearing proud expressions on their faces.

" _That_ is the Shreya your mother would be proud of!" Mal reached over to give Shreya a high-five.

Shreya began to smile. "You think?"

"Definitely," Mal went back to her lunch tray.

"Okay, but guys, what happens if Elle actually realized what we did?" Carlos had to ask.

"Elle doesn't scare us, Carlos," Jay had himself a short laugh.

"Except for that amulet," Carlos felt the need to remind. "Plus, it's not her we have to worry about. What if she goes to Fairy Godmother? Or worse, Ben's parents?"

That thought made everyone stop eating for a second. Shreya suddenly felt she returned to her 'softie' moments.

"Oh my God," she covered her face with her hands. "What did we do?"

"Relax, Elle's not going to do anything," Mal carelessly tossed another grape into her mouth.

And for the next couple of days, Shreya did her best to believe in it.

~0~

Shreya walked into Chemistry a bit late, and the worst of days since there was an exam that period. Evie was already at her place, shuffling through her chest-purse. Avoiding the stares of some students, Shreya went directly to her seat.

"Where were you?" Evie soon demanded while she was pulling out some things onto the desk.

"I got held up again," Shreya rested her cheek on her palm. There was a noticeable smirk on Evie's face that made Shreya groan. "Shut up. Nothing happened. That's why I was late. I'm too busy dodging Ben's attempt to be a boyfriend and that, surprisingly, involves a lot of hiding."

Evie chuckled but it was short lived as she gave up searching for whatever it was that was clearly not in her purse. She growled and looked up, just when the teacher came up behind Chad's and Shreya's table.

"Looking for something?" He waved Evie's magic mirror in his hand then clapped a hand on Chad's shoulder. "Thank you, Chad. It's gratifying to see someone still respects the honor code." Both Evie and Shreya were horrified. "It will be my recommendation that you are expelled."

"Mr. Delay, I…" Evie tried to make up a reasonable excuse when, thankfully, Doug rose to her defense.

"But that isn't fair. Obviously she wasn't cheating since she didn't have that…" Doug gestured to the mirror, "...whatever it is-"

"It's called a magic mir…" Evie tried cutting in.

"You're not helping. Stop," Doug quickly told her then continued with his excuse. " "Maybe she needed another pencil."

Once more, Evie opened her mouth "Actually, I was…"

Doug turned to her, begging her to please keep quiet. "Really, don't help. Please."

Evie still tried one more time but this time Shreya threw a crumpled up paper at the girl's face and made a cutting motion across her neck.

"Please?" Doug urgently looked at the teacher and maybe because he truly believed in Doug's logical explanation, the teacher gave Evie another chance.

"Well, If you can pass this test, I'll return your property and let the matter drop."

As he left, Evie looked relieved and started fixing up her desk to take that exam. Shreya was sure she would pass it since Evie was a whiz at chemistry. Meanwhile, Chad had a sour look on his face. Unable to help herself, Shreya stood up and stomped on his nearby foot.

"I _dare_ you to say something," she sweetly smiled and took a seat again. Chad sent her the meanest of glares but out of his pride, he kept his pain to himself.

Evie mouthed a 'thank you' to Shreya and the two waited to take their exam.

~0~

Mal stood by her locker staring at something in her arms when she heard her name being hollered from across. Shreya was laughing as she came sprinting up to her.

"Oh my God! You missed the most hilarious thing ever in Chemistry today!" Shreya laughed again and leaned against the lockers. "Chad thought he could get Evie expelled by taking her mirror-"

Mal's face turned into panic. "What!?"

"It's fine, don't worry. The teacher said that if Evie passed her exam he wouldn't act on it. She got a B of course and shut Chad right up!"

Mal soon began to relax. "Good going Evie."

"She was so happy, and Chad was so _mad_!" Shreya' laugh turned into a sly giggle. "And you should have seen that cutie of Doug trying to defend Evie. He really likes her and I think Evie is finally getting past that whole 'if he's not a Prince then no' thing. It's really cute." Mal smiled and nodded, but Shreya finally focused on her friend and saw that something else was going on with Mal. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Mal couldn't answer straightaway and instead raised a paper from her books to reveal a beautifully drawn portrait of herself. Shreya's mouth fell open at the sight.

"Wow!" Shreya took the paper from her to get a better look. "This is incredible!"

"I didn't draw it," Mal said quietly. "Ever since I joined that art club Ben introduced me to there's been this guy - Merida's son - who just does not leave me alone-" she said in such an annoyed tone that Shreya had to laugh all over again. "He just drew this for me!"

"Aw, Mal had an admirer," Shreya cooed and handed the drawing back to Mal. "But he has incredible talent."

"He just drew it as a _present_. Who does that?" Mal was severely lost.

"Auradon people do."

"Well it's _weird_ ," Mal shoved the drawing into her locker along with her books. "And uncomfortable."

"It's because we're not used to it," Shreya said quietly. "We're not used to people just being kind...to _be_ kind. That's the Isle we're used to."

Mal shook her head. Shreya could see that even now Mal was fighting the idea of getting used to Auradon and its ways.

"Shreya!" they both heard Ben's call, and instantly Shreya groaned.

"I still hate this plan," Shreya muttered to Mal, who despite her own issues managed to smirk, then turned to greet Ben.

"I was looking for you," Ben smiled, and reached for her hand. Shreya quickly hid it behind her back. There was a flicker of confusion in his face but it passed just as soon as it came. "I wanted to ask you something."

"More?" Shreya feared what it could be this time. He had already asked her to the coronation, what more could he do?

"Do you want to go on a date this afternoon?"

 _That._ He could ask _that_. Shreya's heart did a jolt. "You...me...date…"

Ben chuckled at her nervousness. "Yeah. So, do you want to?"

"Oh, she wants to," Shreya managed to hear Mal's quiet mumble behind. Though the purple-haired girl was feigning to be looking at something by her locker, she was listening to every word.

"Shreya?" There was such an excitement in Ben's face that in that moment Shreya felt it a sin to make it go away by saying 'no'.

"O-okay," she finally agreed.

"Great! I'll come by your door say...5-ish?" Shreya nodded. Ben grinned and kissed her cheek before leaving.

"We're doing kisses on the cheek now…" Shreya turned to Mal. Suddenly, she came back to Mal and whacked her on the arm.

"What - ow!?" Mal gestured that it hurt her.

"You got me into this mess with your stupid love spell!" Shreya frantically exclaimed, giving Mal another whack.

"Ow! What's the big deal!? You've been on dates before!"

"Yeah but on the Isle that just meant 'hey let's steal something together'!" Shreya slammed Mal's locker shut.

Mal snorted. "Then we had a lot of dates."

"It's not funny!" Shreya exclaimed. "In Auradon, a date actually means a _date_. Like with...dinners...and...and talking…and...oh my God, kissing."

Despite the situation, Mal found it easy to smirk at Shreya's horror-stricken face. "You've done that too."

"Not with a _prince_!" Shreya noticed the teasing smirk on Mal's face and hit her arm again. "He's actually sweet and helpful and...oh my God," Shreya released a big breath and fell back against the lockers, completely guilt-riddened. "Ben doesn't deserve this."

"Yeah, and we don't deserve to continue living on the Isle, do we?"

Shreya met Mal's look and without a doubt shook her head. "We don't."

"Then we have to do this," Mal said. "Don't worry, I told you I would give you the antidote when we got the wand and I will. I swear."

Shreya believed her fully. "Then...I guess I have to go on this date thing."

"Yeah, sorry."

A little smile worked its way across Shreya's lips as she thought about it. "I mean...it can't be that bad. It's with _Ben_."

"Oooo," Mal playfully nudged Shreya.

"Shut up."

"Let's go find Evie. She'll definitely want to be a part of this," Mal linked arms with Shreya and they both went off to find their friend.

~0~

Evie was ecstatic to hear about Shreya's date that afternoon. While Shreya and Mal sat on the former's bed, Evie was going back and forth gathering 'necessities' that would prepare Shreya for her date.

"Are you...are you sure we need all of that…?" Mal could see what looked like a curling iron sitting on Evie's vanity desk, plugged in and warming up.

"Yeah, Evie, it might be too much," Shreya sighed. "I've been on dates before and I never had to get all...worked up…'

"That was on the Isle," Evie went to her sewing desk and looked through her various finished pieces. "Melody let me borrow curling iron last week amd you can bet we'll need it."

"Who's Melody?" asked both Shreya and Mal.

"Daughter of Ariel, don't you know?" Evie left the topic once she remembered something more important. "I knew this dress would come in handy! See!?" she had gone for a dress lying over her sewing desk. It was the one she'd made for Shreya a while ago. "Whaddya think?"

Shreya blinked at the dress and gave a nod. "It turned out really nice."

"Casual yet still appropriate for everything, including a date," Evie giddily smiled. "Up! Up!" she made a motion for Shreya to get up from the bed. "We have a lot of work to do."

Shreya dreaded all that Evie would do. Although it was amusing to see Mal trying to figure out a curling iron. She burned herself on various occasions and came out swearing with some words neither Shreya nor Evie had yet to hear.

"I feel like this might be too much," Shreya said after Mal handed her a black leather jacket. "Evie! No more blush!" she ran away and stopped by her bed. "I don't want to scare him away looking like a clown!"

"Please," Evie approached the girl calmly, holding the blush in one hand and the brush in the other. "My mom taught me how to apply blush before I could talk. Always use upward strokes."

Mal sat Shreya down and Evie next to her. She remembered she left the curling iron and hurried to turn it off.

"I wouldn't know about that," Shreya glumly said. "My mom was never really big on makeup tips."

"Same," Mal muttered and raised a hand while she tried to disconnect the curling iron.

"Mine really just focused on making me a villain. That's how I met Mal, remember?"

Mal finally pulled the plug and let it drop to the floor. "Oh yeah."

"Back when she used to run along with Uma," Shreya smirked.

"I never knew that," Evie noted curiously.

"Oh yeah, when our Mom's weren't being total evil and dark on us, they paired us up thinking we'd improve together," Mal smirked and leaned against the vanity desk, arms crossed. "I improved."

"I...did not," Shreya scowled. "I felt like everyone was against me..."

"It's the _Isle_ , Shreya," Mal reminded. "Everyone is against everyone."

"I just don't understand why it includes my _mother_ being against _me_."

All three girls stopped for a minute to ponder on Shreya's words.

Evie put down her blush and compact, eyes slowly meeting her friends'. "Are you afraid of your mothers?"

Mal and Shreya crossed uneasy looks that pretty much gave Evie her answers.

"Sometimes," Shreya dignified an answer.

"I mean, I just really want her to be proud of me," Mal said offhandedly. "She gets so angry with me when I disappoint her. And sh... yeah, she's my mom, so I know she loves me...in her own way."

Shreya had really taken the time to consider Evie's words, and feeling rather vulnerable in that moment, she finally spoke her deepest thoughts. "Sometimes I think my Mom doesn't love me. She just sees me as a nuisance."

Neither Evie nor Mal could debunk that statement for Shreya's case. There were times when Shuriki was known to be extra vicious towards her daughter, and for the littlest of reasons. But since it wasn't odd to hear about these parents on the Isle, no one really ever intervened.

"Okay, moving on," Evie decided before they got all emotional and Shreya ruined her appearance. "You're ready."

"Am I…?" Shreya worried as Evie pulled her up to her feet. Mal was giving a nod of approval and made Shreya feel a little more confident. She loved Evie but the girl sometimes tended to go overboard.

Evie brought Shreya up to the full length mirror and smiled while Shreya took in her appearance.

"Oh…" Shreya blinked rapidly, silently having to convince herself that this was actually _her_.

Mal had done a perfect job curling Shreya's dark hair and even doing a little puff at the top of Shreya's head with a silver clip keeping it in place. Evie's 'casual but not casual' dress turned out to be even prettier when put on. It was pine-green shade and reached just above her knees. Evie had made it so that there was a flower-patterened lace overlay at the neckline, with short sleeves where the pine-green would fade into black.

"I know," Evie proudly stepped back and went for the black leather jacket still lying on Shreya's bed.

"Yeah, so Evie wanted to give you those-" Mal pointed at the pair of heels by Evie's bed, "-so I said no and went with these," she picked up a pair of black flats.

"Life saver," Shreya grabbed Mal by the arms, both chuckling afterwards much to Evie's dismay.

"You're going to want to thank me later, watch," was all the blue-haired girl said.

At the knock on the door, all girls froze and looked at each other.

"Don't blow it," Mal pointed at Shreya who immediately blinked.

"You sounded just like your Mom..."

Mal smirked.

They knew their time was up when someone knocked on the door. At Mal's and Evie's requests, Shreya went to go get it.

Ben stood on the other side, donning one of his sports' jackets that Shreya immediately (but silently) deemed entirely his style, and suitable. Just as she was enthralled with his appearance, Ben was of hers.

"For the first time, I understand the difference between pretty and beautiful," he broke the silence first. Shreya's face flushed but she pulled a big, honest, smile. "I hope you like bikes." Ben made a motion to the helmets in his hands.

"Never been on one but I'll give it a try," Shreya chuckled and stepped out with him.

As they left, Mal and Evie fist-bumped in the room.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Sooo sorry but I didn't want to fit in the date in this chapter so that it wouldn't make it longer than I wanted. But I promise the next chapter will come out soon. I've already finished this story and I've made some drafts of the next one. God I just love these movies so much and the books that I wish I could write them forever! xD (Melissa de la Cruz, hire me please!)

 **For the Reviews:**

Thank you so much! Hope you liked this one too!

Riiight? Our gullible smol bean Shreya xD.


	9. The Date

Shreya discovered that Ben had a good eye for beautiful places. She knew that she had never seen so much _sunshine_ and _green_ put together. There was a smell of pine-cones in the air along with mint from nearby bushes. She concluded that she liked the forest very much. It had a peaceful aura that was hardly ever found on the Isle unless you knew of some sort of secret corner. One thing she did discover that wasn't all too good was that she was terrified of motorcycles or anything that wasn't Auradon's school cars.

"They should be outlawed!" Shreya walked ahead of Ben towards a wooden bridge. still shaken from the motorcycle ride Ben had given her to the forest. "I could have _died_ and what for? Because of a motorcycle!"

Ben could not suppress his laughter behind her. "Shreya, it wasn't that bad. You didn't even fall!"

"But what _if_ I had fallen?" Shreya turned around, now walking backwards towards the bridge she'd yet to fully notice.

"You had a helmet on. Plus, I've never had an accident on that thing. I've been riding since I was ten."

"I'm not getting back on that thing," Shreya wagged her finger at him then turned to face ahead. She stopped abruptly and caused Ben to bump into her from behind. She had finally spotted the bridge. "You want me to cross _that_...?" she pointed.

Ben could sense another sudden fear springing forwards. "Yes, it's where our date is going to be."

Shreya shook her head. "Nope. No. That thing looks old and I..." her eyes lowered to the lake underneath and just shook her head again. "Nope. No thanks."

"Let me get this straight - you will sword someone to death, but you won't cross a simple bridge?"

"Yeah, I know, I'm pathetic. My Mom says that."

Ben's amusement faded after that. He would tell her that of course she had to be joking but knowing all the stories of the sorceress Shuriki he knew that it most definitely _wasn't_ a joke. "It's fine, I promise. We all use this bridge all the time. Do you trust me?"

Shreya felt the immediate urge to say that of course she trusted him. She didn't even know why she would want to say that. She'd never openly say that to anyone, not even her friends. "Y-yeah..."

"Then just go and I will be right behind you, I promise," Ben gave her a gentle push forwards but ultimately waited for her to take her own step onto the bridge. As it creaked, she slowly started making her way across but with her hands gripping both ropes. "Tell me something about yourself that you've never told anyone."

"What?" Shreya glanced back, startled by the question.

"Distraction. C'mon, tell me something," Ben bopped her and chuckled when she squeaked and held onto the ropes even more. "But keep moving."

"O-okay," Shreya took in a small breath and continued to walk, rather slowly but Ben would never tell. "Um, well...everyone, including my mother, think that I don't have any powers, but..." she whipped her head back and revealed glowing red eyes.

This truly took Ben by surprise enough that he had to stop and process what he had just heard. Shreya laughed and continued walking like nothing. Ben's distraction plan was truly working indeed.

"W-wait!" Ben called after a minute or so when he'd gathered his bearings. "Shreya! Do you mean to say you _do_ have powers?"

Shreya loved his reaction but also felt like she wouldn't be able to lie to him when he was already bound to her with a spell. He deserved at least her honesty in these small things. "I don't actually have the powers a sorceress should - according to my mother anyways. Never had them apparently. This little eye trick - that does nothing by the way except glow - came in when I turned sixteen last month. But no one knows so I'd appreciate if you keep my secret. If my Mom knows I didn't even develop the powers right, she'll just be even more disappointed in me."

"That's really cool," Ben soon caught up with her.

"Yeah, believe me, having your eyes randomly glow red is _not_ cool," Shreya was more than delighted when she reached the end of the bridge and hopped onto the ground.

"Hey, you made it!" Ben actually went ahead and gave her a round of applause, making her laugh in return.

"You jerk!" she playfully hit him afterwards.

"Alright, c'mon," without asking he had taken her hand to lead her to wherever their date actually was.

"So you're really not going to tell me where we're going?" Shreya tried making small talk again to get her attention off his hand that had his fingers laced with hers.

"It's a surprise, you know?"

"Um, no offence, but a 'surprise' for me - a girl of the Isle - doesn't exactly have a good connotation. Last time someone said that was to Evie and do you know what happened?"

"No..."

"She ended up with green hair for a month. That was known as the Dark Period of the Isle where _everyone_ suffered."

Ben laughed. "Okay, well, in Auradon, a 'surprise' usually means something good is about to happen."

"Such a weird concept," Shreya whispered.

"It gets better," Ben stopped then moved behind her again, covering her eyes up.

"Should I even tell you what usually happens when people do that on the Isle?"

"I don't think you should," Ben laughed. He helped her walk fairly fine for a couple of more minutes. "Okay, watch your foot," he carefully helped her down a small edge. "Are you good?"

"I...think so? I don't know," Shreya was well out of her element and she trusted that Ben knew that.

"Okay, you ready?"

"Mhm..."

Ben removed his hand from her eyes then instructed her to open them. What Shreya saw blew her mind. It was so well thought and just... _thoughtful_. They had reached the small waterfall that then became the 'enchanted' lake. Just beside it was a small, circular, stone platform with some pillars still standing. Some of the pillars were decorated with floral vines. On the stone platform, Shreya could spot bits of different foods spread out like a picnic.

"Wow..." Shreya looked at Ben beside her with utter disbelief. He motioned the way and of course took her by the hand.

In no time they had settled on the ground and began to pick at the foods. Shreya was the first to admit that the food of Auradon was the best thing ever. It was probably the only thing she and the rest of her friends would openly admit to. On the Isle their food was mostly rotten and or, close to the point of spoiling. She had discovered that peaches were her favorite sort of fruit so far. She'd moved onto some sweet bread that...had jelly inside? She couldn't believe it!

Ben liked watching her go through these new discoveries. It was a reminder of how distinct their worlds were. "Is this your first time?"

Shreya lowered her almost finished peach with a sheepish smile. "There's not much dating on the Isle but I actually did have a boyfriend before."

"Um, I meant, is this your first time eating a jelly doughnut?"

With reddened cheeks, Shreya lowered said bread. "Is that what it's called? Bit basic."

"I'll talk to someone about that," Ben said as serious as possible before they laughed together.

"You do that and I'll keep eating," Shreya finished her doughnut with ease.

"So...when you said this wasn't...your first time being on a date - I don't want to be nosy!" Ben felt the need to clarify before Shreya got any ideas. "I'm just...curious. That's all."

Shreya smirked. "Yeah I can see that. All of you Auradons are so... _curious_. The phrase 'curiosity killed the cat' is literally something that happens on the Isle all the time."

"If you don't want to talk about then that's completely fine-"

"No, I don't mind," Shreya shrugged. "I'm only sixteen and my mother is _Shuriki_ so you can imagine there hasn't been a lot of admirers after me. Mal actually introduced me to him - well she was in the middle of a heist with another of our friends during the time and she sort of just ran off on him. Poor thing," she smiled at the memory. "Scared out of his mind that his Dad would find him so I helped him hide."

"Who was his dad...?" Ben asked, a bit fascinated but also dreading the poor kid with the villain parent.

Shreya leaned forwards, drawing it out as much as she could before she uttered, "Captain _Hook_."

Ben's eyes lit up with excitement. "You mean _the_ Captain Hook!? As in sword-fighting, pirate Captain Hook?"

Shreya burst into laughter. "I'm sorry, are you happy about this!? You actually like him!?"

"Well...the story was...amazing. Plus, I always liked playing pirate when I was little," Ben smiled innocently. Shreya raised an eyebrow. "So then you dated his son, then?"

"Harry - he's good looking but kind of self-centered. Mal actually was the one to advise me to just break things off. I thought she was right so I did."

Ben nodded, and he let a small minute of silence pass before he spoke again. "You and Mal are really close, hm?" Shreya nodded without a second thought. "I just noticed that out of your whole group it's pretty much always you and Mal. Especially after the stand off with Elle in our English class."

"On the Isle it's always been me, Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay, but...Mal and I share similar relationships with our mothers. They're both...canniving in their own way. Maleficent is known as the Mistress of Evil and my mother, Shuriki, is known as the most powerful Dark Sorceress in the land," Shreya shook her head. "They actually put us together so that would could up our evilness in each other. Mal and I have always had each other's backs since we were little kids. We're evil but we look out for our kind. That's our code."

Ben did fairly well in respecting Shreya's views and perspective, but he had to disagree over one thing. "Shreya, you're not evil."

Shreya could not believe she was about to hear that from him too. She already had enough of that from her mother. "I _am_ ," she argued fiercely. "I've done bad things on the Isle."

"I don't think you did them to _be_ evil. I've noticed things about you, Shreya," Ben pointed, and by the look on his face Shreya felt a lecture coming. "I think you're actually assimilating to Auradon and you _don't want_ to. You don't _let_ it because of what your friends, including Mal, would say."

"What?" Shreya frowned.

"Remember the cheerleading idea?"

"Trying hard not to, actually..."

"You _wanted_ to try out. Back in the school field you looked like you really wanted it, but when Mal pointed out how 'Auradon' it was...you automatically refused the idea," Ben watched as Shreya's eyes slowly began to lower. "And then how about your swording abilities? You've prided yourself on that and you were more than willing to help Lonnie form the first female fencing team for the school until Lonnie mentioned that Queen Elena happens to be the best fencer of the lands. Shreya you're not evil, you just want to be evil for the sake of your friends and, probably, your mother." And Ben could truly understand that despite his disagreements with it. If Shreya had grown up on an island where it was _wrong_ to be _good_ then of course she would do anything to make sure she was doing the wrong things to fit in. Her mother, the Dark Sorceress, would of course expect her daughter to follow in the same evil footsteps she left behind.

Shreya then began to think about Mal's words and dejectedly looked down. Her mother was never short of reminding her how to be evil on a daily basis and was even ridiculed at times by telling one of her friends, usually Mal, to help her when they were out on the Isle. Of course most of the time she got things right but there were always those moments where she would get a twinge of guilt for her actions. It was her 'flaking out' at the last moment like she was told to often do.

"I can look into your eyes and I can tell you're not evil. I can see it," Ben said, putting a finger under her Shreya's chin to raise her gaze. Her heart skipped a beat at the words.

Shreya felt the air leave her lungs. For a minute, she couldn't decide how to react - _if_ there was a way tor react. No one had ever said something like that. Well, maybe a handful of people had but it was never meant to be kind nor... _meaningful_. She just wasn't used to it.

"Let's go for a swim," Ben decided to change the topic for a much lighter mood.

Shreya barely had time to register the change when he stood up and began unbuttoning his shirt. "Excuse me? Like...right now?"

"Yeah, right now!"

Shreya eyed the lake with hesitation. "I...don't think so. I think I'll just stay here."

"No, no, no, c'mon!"

"I think I'm gonna stay behind and try a...what are those?" she pointed at a reddish-orange fruit in front of her.

"Mangoes," Ben answered, holding back an amused laugh as she picked it up and bit into it.

Her eyes widened almost instantly when her taste buds reacted. "Mm! These are so good! You go!" she shooed Ben off and grabbed the plate of mangoes. "I've been robbed," she mumbled as she bit into her third slice. If it hadn't been for her casually looking out at the lake she would have missed Ben about to take a dive from a small cliff. She left her fruit on the plate and got up to see better. "Are those little crowns on your shorts?" though far away she swore she saw Ben do a double take at his swim trunks that did indeed have crowns.

"Maybe!" he ended up calling back with a nervous laugh.

"Oh my God you're a dork..." Shreya came to the quiet conclusion, almost to the verge of laughter. Ben took a swift dive into the lake, yelling out a 'woo hoo!' somewhere in there. Something fluttered in Shreya's stomach and she was sure it had nothing to do with all the new food she'd tried. Turning away, Shreya started to think like she'd never thought before.

* * *

 _"See that?" Mal had just stopped and pointed Shreya and the rest of the Descendants to a group of smaller children who were on the verge of fighting over some miraculous candy. "New stock of Yules' candy I see."_

 _"Oh, I want," Jay rubbed his hands together._

 _"It's not that good," Evie crinkled her nose. "I've had some and it almost made me throw up."_

 _"But they want it," Carlos pointed at the group of younger kids, "And that should make up for the bad taste."_

 _"Let's just take it and dump into the port," Mal devised a quick plan, but of course Jay warned that he was going to be keeping some of the stock for his father's shop._

 _"Plan?" Carlos waited for Mal to think of it._

 _"Just take it and run," Mal shrugged. She gestured to the crates of candy waiting on the ground to be picked up by the Yules' Candy shop employers to come for it. "Shreya, you in?" she threw an expectant glance at the dark-haired girl._

 _"S-sure..." Shreya was busy staring at the hungry-eyed kids. It was obvious the candy was their truest desires since nothing else on the Isle could really be called 'sweets' and nothing else really tasted close to candy. All they had was Yules'._

 _"Alright, let's go!" Mal announced._

 _Carlos threw a fist in the air and rushed first. Mal and Jay went for the very first crate while Evie and Carlos pushed some of the kids away in order to get the second crate._

 _The kids began to panic as the teens started running off with the crates._

 _"That's our candy!" a little blonde girl whined. "You can't take our candy!"_

 _"You won't be able to afford it," snapped Mal. "We're doing you a favor! Shreya! Hurry up!" and she ran off without another look back._

 _Shreya was already midway but she stopped when she saw all the kids staring at her, being the only one left to take the last crate. Swallowing hard, Shreya bent down to pick it up but the little blonde girl was beginning to sniffle._

 _"I s-saved up this time," the girl repeated herself, now sniffling._

 _Shreya tried really hard to get the hell out of there but her feet wouldn't move. The blonde girl soon began to cry. Shreya stared at the girl for a good minute then cast brief glances at the rest of the kids who seemed also close to crying. Suddenly, her hands let go of the crate and it crashed onto the ground, spilling all the candy inside. "Just take it and run!" Shreya advised before running herself._

Shreya recalled how furious Mal had been after realizing what Shreya had done with the crate of candy. They had all met at the port to throw away the crates when Shreya showed up with nothing. It hadn't taken long to put the pieces together and figure out that Shreya had purposely let the kids have the last crate of candy.

 _"What's the matter with you!?" Mal shrieked. "What are you now!? A softie!? One of those Auradon softies we always make fun of!? We are supposed to be **evil**! This is what we do! What our parents are training us to do! You can't even steal candy from kids!? You're pathetic."_

* * *

Of course the argument hadn't lasted long, as usual. Mal apologized and instead tried figuring ways to help Shreya reach her evilest potential. It still didn't mean that Shreya had forgotten the hurtful words. It wasn't the first time that something like that happened. People were always telling her she wasn't tapping into her darkest roots. She could be more evil, but she just didn't want to be. Shreya didn't understand _how_ people would do it because she tried, honestly, but something pulled her back sometimes. Now that she thought about the 'hurtful' words, she could hear Ben's mixing in. She wasn't evil? And that was a _good_ thing?

"Is it meant to be a good thing?" she whispered to herself. It certainly made her feel different when Ben said it. Usually, the words were meant as insults from people who were meant to love her and it made her feel ashamed. But now today Ben had said something similar and she felt all...warm inside. "Is this pathetic?" she rubbed her face. She needed to stop thinking and having her little evil crisis there. It was definitely not the appropriate place. She needed to go home.

"Ben!" she turned back to the lake expecting to see the prince in question swimming about. She was a bit concerned to see that he wasn't anywhere in sight. The water didn't even seem to be moving when someone was supposedly swimming in it. "Ben?" she called again and stepped down the gazebo ground. The rocky ground made her stumble a bit but she kept a firm hand on the stone pillar. "Ben!" he was no where to be seen and now she was starting to get really worried. What if something had happened to him and she hadn't even noticed!?

Without thinking, she started heading for the lake. "Ben! Where are you!?" she splashed against the cold water the further she went. _You're an idiot, you can't swim!_ she suddenly remembered. Now would be a really good moment to use some powers. She tilted her head back in an attempt to keep the water out of her nose and mouth but she kept sinking...and sinking...

"Ah!" Shreya felt herself being hoisted up. Ben had finally reappeared and was carrying her back to the stone platform. "You scared me!" Shreya whacked his arm once she was on solid ground again.

Ben was totally lost but did his best to not appear offended. "Y-you can't swim!?"

"Of course not!"

"You live on an island!"

Shreya could not believe he was this ignorant. "Yeah, with a magical _barrier_ around it, remember!?"

Ben conceded on that and didn't push further. Plus, a new thought had entered his mind - along with some clarity. "And you still tried to save me."

Shreya was twisting her hair to squeeze the water out of it. "And do you thank me? No! All I get is soaking wet!" she gestured to herself and began to wonder how furious Evie would be with her for ruining the new dress.

"And, uh, this fancy rock...?" Ben had taken a shining, white, pointy rock from the lake. Shreya raised an eyebrow at it. "It's yours," Ben handed it to Shreya. "Make a wish and throw it back in the lake."

Shreya appreciated his thought but right now, being soaking wet and cold, she just wasn't up for making wishes like a fairytale princess. She threw the rock back at the lake and got back on her feet. Hugging herself, she went back to their picnic and sat down. Suddenly, the fruit didn't seem appetizing anymore. Ben followed, and without a word, put his blue and yellow jock jacket around Shreya's shoulders. The movement startled Shreya but being cold didn't give her reasons to push away the nice gesture.

"Uh, Shreya...I told you that I loved you," Ben began, sounding nervous all of a sudden. "What about you? Do you love me?"

Shreya's first instinct was to look away. She pursed her lips together and truly tried not to hurt his feelings. "Look, Ben, the only love I've gotten has been from my mom and my friends and even all that hasn't exactly been all that great. So I guess I don't really know what love feels like."

Ben put a finger under Shreya's chin to bring her gaze back to him. "Maybe I can teach you."

Shreya smiled softly. She was touched by his sincerity but she would be lying if she said this was the first time someone said something like that. People were always trying to teach her how to be evil, and be the best she could be...

It never ended well.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I have to say this is one of my favorite chapters *gushes*. I love my OC what can I do? And yes, I know I didn't include 'If Only' but believe me that song will turn out to be _very_ important in the next story.

 **For the Reviews:**

Thank you! I hope you liked this new chapter too! :)

Ugh, yes, boo Elle indeed. And p.s I just refused to leave Melody - the only canon child of a princess - out of the story even if it was just a brief mention xD.

* * *

Once again, thank you for reading and hope to hear your thoughts on this chapter! Until next time! :)


	10. A Guilty Conscience

"I can't believe you are _this_ desperate to avoid Ben," Evie rolled her eyes for the fifth time after leaving their dormitories.

"And I can't believe you're still acting like you didn't actually want to go," Shreya responded cooly.

Evie pursed her lips, throwing Shreya a warning look. "Because I didn't," she had said in a rather menacing tone.

Shreya smirked. "Right."

The history teacher had set up a visit to the museum open only to those ranking between 1 and 10 within his six classes. It came as no surprise for Shreya to find that Evie came in as number 1 despite none of them actually attending the classes anymore. They were still on Independent studies for the course thanks to Ben and yet Evie had managed to surpass every other student. The girl was incredibly intelligent but never dared show it. Shreya had come in as number five, and since Ben had gotten the idea to actually _be_ like a couple Shreya took any opportunity to be away from him.

The guilt was getting to her.

She was doing her best to keep up with the charade even though it was basically gnawing at her heart. She did the hand holding, the dates, the sitting together at classes and just plain spending time together...but at a high cost. Sleepless nights of guilt or nights plagued with nightmares of her guilt were what Shreya got in return. When she was lucky to get sleep, she would then get whispers of her mother warning her not to ruin their precious plan. It was a cycle Shreya desperately wanted to stop.

In her time spent with Ben, Shreya came to discover he really was a 'softie' prince and she was guilty of admitting (only to herself) that she liked it. There was never a doubt when she was with Ben on whether or not his intentions were going to be good. On the Isle she always had to be careful when her ex decided on some sort of plan for them. At the very first chance he would take what he got and left her to figure it out on her own. Shreya could never see Ben doing something like that. He was so kind despite his lack of Isle knowledge. He _tried_ to understand and that was what warmed Shreya's heart. It was impossible to continue with the potion without feeling an ounce of guilt. It was why Shreya opted for any chance to be away from Ben for a while. The less time she was with him, the less atrocious lies she had to spew out.

Now she and Evie walked down the museum's first floor behind Mr. Crane and most of the students on the trip. Jane was lagging and eventually, after some giggling from Audrey, Jane finally had Evie bumping into her.

"Sorry!" Jane quickly whirled around, apologetically looking at Evie.

"Let me guess..." Shreya sent daggers at Audrey's and Elle's backs, "...they made a joke?"

Jane slumped her shoulders. "Ever since Mal did my hair neither Audrey nor Elle seem to like me very much. Well-" she gave a tilt of her head, "-I think I wasn't their favorite before the spell but...you get the idea."

"Honestly, I don't know what is it with Auradons and pretending to like people," Shreya snorted and soon the three girls began to walk behind the other students again, but at a bigger distance. "Say what you want about the Isle but at least everyone there shows their true colors."

Jane still squeaked when someone mentioned anything about the Isle. Her nervous eyes flickered from Shreya to Evie. "I-is it bad when someone dislikes you?"

"Let's just say their tricks are severe," Evie shook her head. There, Shreya had to agree.

"Remember what Mal did to you in Hell Hall?"

Evie glared Shreya's way, warning her to be quiet. Of course, being curious, and frankly scared, Jane asked more about it.

"Hell Hall is where Carlos and his mother used to live at," Shreya began to explain despite Evie shooting daggers. "And when Evie first transferred to our school, Mal _despised_ her to no end. She used to call her Blueberry Princess now that I remember. Oh! And remember when she actually locked you in Cruella De Vil's closet of doom?"

"Closet of doom?" Jane repeated and gulped.

"She had this closet full of her old fur coats and as a security measure she had snapping traps that could cut your ankles off!"

Jane squeaked and covered her face like she was about to enter said closet.

"I would rather not relive moments like those," Evie 'hmphed' and walked just a bit ahead with her nose in the air. Shreya burst into laughter and pulled Jane with her.

Mr. Crane offered some history that the students already knew. They were really just itching to have some time on their own because it meant they could just walk around wasting time instead of being stuck in classes. As Mr. Crane led them into the hero section of the museum, Audrey didn't fail to remark over Shreya's and Evie's status of citizenship in Auradon.

"They're not Auradons-" she cast both Isle girls such a contemptuous look, "-and they never will be. They shouldn't be in this section."

"They're probably looking to rob something," added Elle who was inspecting her nails.

Jane looked between both Isle girls nervously. Evie wouldn't outright attack but Shreya was another story. Little did she know that Shreya's only reason for staying completely still was because of Elle's amulet around her neck.

"Do not stay behind," Mr. Crane called for the girls to regather with the group.

For the next twenty minutes they were all forced to listen about the beautiful history the heros of Auradon had created. Shreya shook her head, remembering why she and the rest of her friends had decided not to show up to class anymore. She honestly couldn't wait until Ben implemented that new curriculum and... _oh_. Ben _wouldn't_ get the chance to do that...because he wouldn't actually become King...because of the plan.

Shreya's heart twinged in her chest.

As soon as they were allowed to separate, Shreya and Evie went straight for the villains' section. Jane, left with not much of a choice, followed them. Last time they were there, neither Shreya nor Evie had time to actually look at the stands and see what had made it into 'Auradon History'. They discovered Mother Gothel actually had her own section, along with a statue of herself holding the infamous flower that provided her with her long-talked-about youth.

"I bet if Ginny saw this she would never back talk again," Evie nudged Shreya.

"Ginny who?" repeated poor Jane who couldn't be more lost in that part of the museum.

"A frenemie of mine," Shreya gave a shrug, but Evie's scoff made her look like the liar she was. "Alright, so she was like an enemy. I hated her guts and she hated mine."

"And she was...?" Jane looked back at the statue of Mother Gothel with a new sense of fear.

"Ginny Gothel," Shreya said simply, letting Jane make that connection.

"How many enemies did you guys have?"

"Anyone on the Isle could be considered one," Evie left the place and strode down a hallway with plenty more rooms to observe. "I didn't like Ginny much myself. She always thought she could outdo me in beauty - as if," Evie whipped her hair behind her shoulder.

"I think Ginny might have been more yours than mine," Shreya put more thought into it as they followed Evie into another section of the museum. "You two always went at it."

"Wow..." Evie had stopped at one glass display that had caught her attention.

"Eve, what is it?" Shreya stopped by. Jane moved to Evie's other side and all three stared down a worn, leather-bound book sitting inside along with a familiar bitten apple.

"That's my mother's..." Evie couldn't believe she was actually staring at her mother's grimoire of spells - the same book that once performed her aging spell to doop Snow White into believing the Evil Queen was an old lady.

"But why is that here?" Shreya frowned. "Mal has her spell book because Maleficent got to keep hers - along with the scepter - so why didn't your mother?"

"I don't know," Evil shook her head.

"Evie, this book should be given to you because you are its rightful owner," Shreya looked up with a big scowl on her face. "Why hasn't that happened?"

"You _are_ joking, right?" the voice Shreya wished would just disappear spoke from the end of the hallway. Audrey and Elle had come up the staircase and were now walking towards them. Elle sarcastically asked from Audrey, "Gee, Audrey, why wouldn't an evil kid get a powerful spell book?"

"I don't know, Elle," Audrey responded in the same sarcastic manner. "Maybe because they're in Auradon and no magic is allowed? Not to mention the fact that they are _evil_."

Shreya raised an eyebrow. "But I thought you said that Evie and I aren't Auradons so wouldn't that mean the rules don't apply to us?"

Audrey stiffened for a moment, and Elle frowned knowing a point had been made. "No one in Auradon keeps magical objects anymore. You're not Auradons but you live on our land and therefore you follow our rules. Deal with it." She whipped around and took Audrey with her as they headed for the nearby staircase.

Shreya balled her fists and marched after them but Evie grabbed her arm and shook her head. "Amulet," she reminded and Shreya had no choice but to stay there.

"You shouldn't let them get to you like that," Jane said, sounding apologetic on behalf of the girls. "I don't know what's gotten into Elle lately, honestly, she wasn't like that."

"When you mean 'that' do you mean a total bitch?" Shreya muttered.

"She's always had an attitude and some weird interests..." Jane recalled with perfect memory all of Elle's interest on the Isle and shivered, "...but she's never been so rude."

"While I'd love to blame it on Audrey I think Elle is just showing true colors."

Evie hummed in agreement. "Being from the Isle we can just tell those things." She cast another sad look at her mother's grimoire, to which Jane felt the necessity to point out flaws in Elle's words.

"You know..." she made a face, a nervous one that Shreya picked up on, "...what Elle said isn't entirely true. I know for a fact Queen Elena of Avalor still has her magical scepter in Avalor."

Shreya's face fell from the shock. " _What_!?"

"But I thought no one was supposed to have magical objects," Evie said calmly, though highly confused of the matter.

"Queen Elena disagreed with King Beast and Queen Belle's decree," Jane gave a shrug of her shoulders. "She thought that choosing whether or not to continue performing magic should be one's choice, and not a royal decree. That's why Elle gets to wear her amulet and I heard Queen Elena's scepter is kept in her castle."

"I don't think I even have to say how ridiculously unfair that is!" Shreya felt her blood boiling.

"I can see what Queen Elena is getting at," Jane admitted, rubbing one of her arms. "I think performing magic should be our choice. If it was up to me, I would like to have my own wand too."

Evie glanced at Shreya with a different light in her eyes. "When it's put like that I have to agree." Shreya looked like she had just been witness to the ultimate betrayal. "I'm sorry, Shreya, but I think Queen Elena might have had some truth in that," Evie turned to her mother's grimoire with a sigh. "Everyone should have the right to choose to do magic or not. Elena made her choice and I think everyone else should have too instead of just blatantly following the decree."

Shreya released a breath. She said nothing more but the look on her face indicated that she agreed with Evie's words...but she would not openly say it.

~ 0 ~

When Ben found Shreya in her dormitory, he was definitely not expecting warnings from Mal and Evie to 'be careful'. For those two - or any of the Isle teens - to say something like that meant trouble was in the air.

"Museum trip didn't go well," Evie had said just before exiting the room, thinking Ben would deserve at least a little bit of an explanation.

"Shreya?" Ben heeded the warnings and stayed close to the door.

The girl in question looked up from her notebook and wagged a finger at him. "For your own safety I suggest you leave too."

"I'm not going anywhere," Ben said, proving his words as he walked up to Shreya's bed. "What's wrong?"

"I'm having one of those 'I really want to punch your face' so really, get away. The last thing I want to do is punch _your_ cute face," Shreya reddened as soon as she realized what she'd said.

Ben laughed but Shreya whacked him with her journal. "I will graciously accept that compliment."

"Shut up!" Shreya exclaimed, mortified. "Had this been the Isle I would have actually punched you! Or thrown you over the ports!"

"I can swim!"

"Shut up!"

Ben had to control his laughter if he wanted to actually get on with the topic, but it was rather hard. She was feeling bad and he wanted - no, he _needed_ \- to help her out. However, his eyes had fallen over the notebook Shreya had been working on and caught some stanzas.

"If Only?" he read the title upside down.

Shreya's eyes widened and slapped a hand over the page. "Don't read that!"

"What? Why not?"

"Because…" Shreya cast the doorway a quick glance before looking at Ben in front of her, "...it's...it's a poem…" she had said so quietly Ben had almost missed it.

"A...poem?"

"Yes."

"Then why are we talking like this?" Ben mimicked her whisper tone.

"Because no one in the Isle writes 'poems'," Shreya admitted, slowly removing her hand from the notebook.

"Why? Poems are usually full of feelings...wishes...desires...thoughts…?"

"Exactly. It's full of things that aren't supposed to be in my head. It's for soft people…"

"And that's...bad…?" Ben truly tried to comprehend something that seemed so simple to him.

"Yes! Of course it is. On the Isle, you always have to make sure you _never_ look soft."

"Okay, but...you're not on the Isle anymore…" Ben said, softly, and put his hand over Shreya's on the bed. There was a light flinch from her but Ben didn't notice. "You don't have to be afraid of expressing your feelings."

"That's so... _soft_ ," Shreya giggled.

Ben playfully rolled his eyes. "Okay, I came in wondering if you wanted to hang out…"

Shreya's giggle faded and she shook her head. Her hand slipped from Ben's and once more she held her notebook. "I'm in a foul mood and since I'm not on the Isle where I could actually let go I should stay in here on my own."

"No, c'mon," Ben wasn't accepting her reasons. He made her stand, but not before Shreya hid her notebook under her pillow. "Let me take you out and cheer you up."

"No, I w-"

"We could go to the fields-"

"-I don't really want to-"

"-or the student lounge-"

"-That's really okay-"

"Let's go get some ice cream from the kitchens-"

"Ice cream?" Shreya repeated, totally lost at the new words. "Wait - no! Why would you want to put yourself in this situation?"

"What situation?" it was Ben's turn to be lost, and with good reason.

"I'm having a bad day. Don't you want to stay away from me? Why do you think Mal and Evie left?"

"I'm not understanding…"

"I can see that," Shreya said slowly. "I don't get it. Don't you want go?"

"No!" Ben laughed and started walking her to the door.

"Why not!?"

"Because my girlfriend is having a bad day and I just want to cheer her up," Ben shrugged his shoulders. "What's wrong with that?"

Shreya could not answer straightaway on account of Ben rubbing her arms. "U-uh…"

Ben lowered his head beside hers, startling her again. "Ice cream?"

Entranced with their closeness, Shreya could only meekly answer, "What's that?"

Ben smirked.

~0~

In Carlos' and Jay's dormitory, Mal had spread out sketches on the table of Fairy Godmother's wand and the cathedral where the coronation would be held at. Evie, Carlos and Jay were attentively listening to the plans for the grand Coronation day.

"Okay, we all know what this looks like," Mal pointed a sharp finger at the sketch of the wand. "So it'll be up on the dais under the Beast's spell jar, and we'll be  
coming in from here," she moved her finger to the coronation building's front entrance. "Now Shreya will be in the very front and the rest of us will be up in the balcony."

"Okay," the other three chorused.

"Carlos?"

Carlos nodded and recited his part of the plan. "Okay, so I'll find our limo, so we can break the barrier, and, uh, get back on the island with the wand."

"Perfect," praised Mal who then looked to Evie. "Evie, you will use this to take out the driver." Mal slid an old styled perfume bottle to Evie. "Two sprays and he'll be out like a light."

"Okay," Evie nodded and took the perfume. She grazed a finger over it before sighing. "What if something goes wrong?"

Mal raised an eyebrow, but before she could even reject that idea everyone else made agreeing faces. They were all fearful of failing, and with great reasons to be. "Guys, what could possibly go wrong?" Mal tried to be casual but the fear laced in her words betrayed her.

"Shreya could bail," Jay said first and foremost. "Again," he added in a low mutter.

"I wouldn't put it behind her," Carlos apologetically agreed. "She didn't even want to use the spell in the first place. Can she really go through with it?"

Mal pursed her lips and looked down at the sketches. It wasn't like she hadn't thought of that before. She just wanted to believe that Shreya would finally grasp the idea of _evil_ this time. "She _will_ ," Mal quietly assured. When she looked up at her friends she made sure to seem as convincing as ever. "Because this time not only are _we_ -" she gestured to the group, "-counting on her, but our parents are too. And I doubt she wanted to make Shuriki, the Dark Sorceress, angry."

On that, everyone agreed.

"Then we need to make sure it's as easy as possible," Evie said with a meaningful expression.

"She's right," Mal pointed. "And what's the biggest, complicated obstacle in this game?" Carlos and Jay stared, clearly clueless of the answer.

Evie knew better. "Elle and her amulet."

"Ooh," went both of the boys while Mal rolled her eyes.

"We need to make sure that necklace comes off her immediately after Shreya takes the wand," Mal warned them all.

"That's where your spellbook comes in, no?" Carlos asked slowly.

Mal picked up the spellbook and waved it. "Let's hope so."

~0~

Mal and Evie returned to their room after their planning sessions finished but spotted Shreya and Ben getting to the door first. Without double thinking, Evie yanked Mal behind the wall of the hallway intersection.

"What are you doing?" hissed Mal. As she was about to come out of hiding, Evie once again pushed her to the wall. "We don't need to hide anymore," Mal grumbled but this time she kept to her hiding spot.

"No, you're right, we should probably go," Evie resolved and forced Mal to leave with her instead.

"So you're telling me they have more flavors?" Shreya was asking Ben between her takes of strawberry ice cream. Ben had showed her to the school kitchen where all their ice cream was stored and she _loved_ it.

Ben, who was enjoying himself a chocolate mint ice cream, nodded his head. "Of course. There's so many I can't count them all." But Shreya seemed unconvinced it could be too good.

"So...there's blueberry icecream?"

"Yup."

"Vanilla?"

"Of course."

"...chocolate without that...thingy...on it...?" Shreya pointed to the very ice cream Ben held.

"First of all, it's mint-chocolate," Ben pointed at her, "And second of all, there's so many flavors of chocolate you'll go crazy."

Shreya laughed, completely excited at the prospect of getting to know more flavors. "I want to try them all! Except for that one you're holding!"

Ben mocked a sound of offence. "Mint-chocolate is the _best_!"

"It's really not," Shreya couldn't help laugh again.

"What - yes it is!"

"Nope!"

The laughter ensued again but seeing her made Ben realize something, and so instead he started smiling widely. "Look at that, an hour ago you were having a bad day and now here you are...laughing over ice cream flavors."

Shreya blinked and looked at her own ice cream. "Wow...I guess I was..." her lips stretched into a smile.

"You see?" Ben inched closer to Shreya, reaching to stroke her arm. "It _is_ possible to be cheered up."

"I could not have dreamed that was possible," Shreya laughed a short laugh. "Mostly because on the Isle it's not right."

"Dare to dream of a better world, Shreya," Ben said so easily, like the Isle hadn't been Shreya's life for the past sixteen years.

Still, her mind was a bit clouded due to the fact Ben was just inches from her and it was so alluring to her. She didn't want to get away from him this time.

"I've never had dreams like those…" she managed to say, but her words were spoken in a quiet voice. Ben was staring at her with an understanding look. "You don't usually have those sorts of things…on the Isle..."

"Here you can," Ben promised. "Here, you can have so many things...and I would love to show you everything."

A tint of pink ran across Shreya's face as Ben neared her, ultimately kissing her. It was a small kiss but for Shreya it was the most wondrous thing. There were _feelings_ behind it...and _emotions_. That was what a kiss was supposed to feel, right? Shreya wasn't sure but her racing heart and her warm face were strongly indicating the answer a was 'yes'.

"I would have never dared to dream of something like _that_ on the Isle either…" she said so shyly it was simply uncharacteristic of her. Maybe Auradon was already changing her.

"Not even with that other boyfriend…?"

"Nope."

Ben beamed, making Shreya laugh. "Look, I've got to go, but...see you tomorrow?" Ben was cautious before he could really leave. He didn't want Shreya to think he was just running out on her now that they'd kissed.

"Okay," Shreya agreed within the second. She had no idea what the hell she was doing but for the moment she wasn't going to question it.

Ben surprised her by stealing another kiss from her. "Okay, bye..." he said nervously but Shreya's widened smile made him feel all the much better.

"Bye," she called to him, instead chuckling.

~0~

Elle was already waiting for Ben in his dorm when he got back. She looked up from his desk with a clearly annoyed expression. "Where the hell were you?" she let a small book drop on his desk, purposely loud. "Is that...ice cream?" she spotted the empty cone in Ben's hand and grew incredulous. "You're late to your own meeting...because of _ice cream_?"

"Oh calm down, Elle. I'm here," Ben discarded the cone into the bin next to the door.

"You should have been here 30 minutes ago!"

Ben gave a shrug of his shoulders. His casualness only served to irritate Elle even more.

"Are you serious?" she scowled. "You made me seriously agree to be here on time like a month ago. In fact, you even made Audrey swear on her favorite pearls that she wouldn't assign a cheer practice today."

On that note, Ben did feel a smidge guilty. "Okay, sorry."

Elle somewhat calmed but she still eyed Ben in the meantime he gathered his things for their meet up. "What's wrong with you…?" she watched him intently, noticing an everlasting smile etched on his face.

"Hm?" Ben stopped sifting through some papers and walked up to the desk to put them down.

Elle raised her head, and Ben recognized that as her suspicious mode. Her eyes had a habit of sweeping one up and down until they caught whatever was wrong. He didn't even object when Elle leaned over the desk to sniff the air.

"You smell _Rotten_ …" she concluded.

Ben raised an eyebrow. "I...haven't been anywhere near the dumpsters…"

"No," Elle straightened up, her head lowering. "I meant you smell 'Rotten' with a capital 'R'. The scent of the _Isle_ , Ben."

"C'mon, Elle, don't be like that," Ben shook his head and started to organize the papers again.

"Be like what?" Elle's voice garnered a cold tinge Ben wasn't caring for. "They're different. They have their own unique scent and it's all over you right now."

"Elle, drop it please. Shreya smells just nice."

Elle laughed. "Excuse me? You're delusional, do you know that? She's got you wrapped around her little finger."

"Elle!" Ben sighed. "I understand the bad blood between you and Shreya but I've yet to see any reason to remain so hostile towards her."

"What!?"

"She hasn't done anything yet!"

Elle seemed even more incredulous. "Are you kidding me? You don't see it, Ben, don't you?"

"See what? All I'm seeing right now is that you're being rude towards my girlfriend."

Elle rubbed her temples. "Girlfriend? That's not a real relationship."

"We've been on a dates and we've even kissed so I think your words are misplaced!"

"You _what_ her now!?"

Ben shook his head and walked away from the desk. He could not believe Elle was acting this way.

"You're out of your mind!" Elle began to shout.

"I'm not the one shouting-"

"BECAUSE YOU DON'T GET IT!" Elle slammed a hand on the desk. "I wasn't going to tell you anything because I didn't think Shreya and her little band would do anything but Ben-" Shreya moved around the desk, "-Shreya _spelled_ you to fall in love with her!"

Ben whirled around with that beast-temper Elle had come to recognize. "I KNOW THAT!"

Elle's mouth fell open in shock. For the first couple of minutes she couldn't say anything so the two just stared at each other. Eventually, Elle found the first words to say. "You _knew_?"

"Yes!"

"And you're _still_ letting it go!? Why isn't Shreya and her friends on a one way ticket to the Isle again!?"

"It's complicated," Ben was now forcing himself to calm down again. The last thing they needed was for someone to overhear the delicate conversation.

" _What_ is complicated?" demanded Elle. "She spelled you. I wasn't sure before but I came to the conclusion that Mal must have summoned up a spell or something for you to drop Audrey like that. But wait...how did you know?"

"On our first date, I took Shreya to the Enchanted lake and I swam in it…"

"And the spell washed away," Elle of course knew the effects and powers of the lake. Ben nodded silently. "Then _why_ haven't you said anything? Why have you been faking a relationship with her?" Ben's eyes couldn't meet Elle's so it took only a mere minute for her to make the conclusion herself. "Do you...do you actually _like_ her?" Elle crinkled her nose in utter disgust.

Crickets might as well have been heard.

"Ben! She's…." Elle made a gesture with her hands since she couldn't come up with the words herself.

"Amazing," Ben finished with a soft tone, one that made Elle groan.

"You can't be serious…"

"I _am_. Look I did my own research, alright?" Ben moved around his desk to take a seat, leaving Elle to turn in his direction. "The spells? It said that…" he idly picked a pen and fiddled with it, "...if there were feelings... _before_ the spell...then it would work even better. And it took me a couple minutes to realize that I _did_ have some...feelings...before."

It looked like Elle had heard the scariest story in her life.

Ben willed himself to face his best friend, more determined than ever. "I wasn't faking anything. And I don't think Shreya has been either."

Elle narrowed her eyes. "You're going to regret that, Ben. I swear to you that you will."

"Why are you acting like this?" Ben frowned, looking at Elle as if she were a complete stranger. "Lately you've been...weird. You're more short tempered, you've been a bit ruder, and...just a whole other side of you that...isn't you."

"Maybe this is the side I've always been," Elle said curtly. "And I mean what I said. This thing you have...whatever you have...with that Shreya isn't going to last. I can promise you that."

"Is that a threat?" Ben rose from his chair, now a bit alarmed. Elle had never acted in such a way before. She always had her short tempered side but this was something else.

"No," Elle replied with ease. "It's a premonition. You should be careful," with those words she left Ben in his room. The idea of a meeting was most certainly out of the question now.

But Ben didn't even think about the meeting. All he could think about was his best friend and who she was becoming...

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Eeeeee they kissed! I was so happy to write that I love these two so much! And did you guys catch that little 'poem' Shreya was writing? I swear to God that song is gonna become important and you'll see in the next story as I promised! It's just too bad snarky Elle had to come and ruin Ben's mood later, huh? Also, what did you guys think about Evie finding out her mother's grimoire still existed? I was so disappointed this was never mentioned in the movies. Like, Evie can technically do spells like Mal can. Hell, even Jane can!

P.s did you guys catch the book references? ;)

 **For the Reviews:**

Thank you so much! Hope you liked this new one! :)

I know! I was so upset she wasn't in the movies nor the books! How could Disney make movies about second generation princes and princesses and not include the only canon princess here?

Ah, thanks! I'm glad to know Shreya gains some hearts out here! And yes, I do like to update as much as I can but since I have other stories I usually go by what story hasn't been updated next lol.

Thanks! I hope you liked this chapter too!

 _Fading Feathers:_ So I don't know if I ever answered your review or maybe you reviewed after I had updated but here it is anyways lol. I actually did watch a couple of episodes from Wicked World and I loved it! And it's an idea I hadn't really thought of making those into actual scenes for a story. I might do that after this story or even the third one (cos oh yeah I plan to keep this going even with the book plots lmao). I'd love to have just casual scenes between Shreya and Ben and their friends.

* * *

Once again thank you to those who continue reading, favoriting, alerting and reviewing! I always like hearing what you guys think so leave a thought or a comment behind! Until next time! :)


	11. Parents' Day

It was unusual for Fairy Godmother to be late to her own class, especially one that she had created. It was even more strange for the Isle teens to find a television on a cart standing right up front where the chalk board was.

"Are we going to watch a movie?" Carlos dared to believe they would get a pass on the ridiculous lessons for that day.

"I doubt it…" Mal eyed the television rather suspiciously.

"Children, excuse me!" Fairy Godmother came rushing down the aisle between the desks.

"We were wondering what this was for…?" Shreya made a gesture to the television.

There was a nervous tint in Fairy Godmother's face that hadn't quite been there for a while. It reminded the teenagers of their early days in Auradon where everyone was outright terrified of them. "Um, as you know, uh, this Sunday is family day here at Auradon prep. And because your parents can't be here due to,  
uh, distance-" she made a gesture with her arms, "-we've arranged for a special treat."

The teenagers intently watched the woman pick up a television remote and turn on said television. In a second they had their parents' faces right in front of them. All of the villains were trying to get their computer to work in order to make the video chat useful.

"Huh," Shreya tilted her head thoughtfully, "Shuriki the Dark Sorceress...taken down by a little ole laptop?" Her friends snickered beside her and Fairy Godmother just stared curiously at them. It was quite a sight to see villains and their children interacting up close.

Eventually, the villains had pressed (by sheer luck) the right button that brought their screen alive.

"Evie, It's mommy. Oh!" went the Evil Queen, who looked - by far - to be the only parent who was truly happy to see their child. Evie gave a meek wiggle of her fingers at her mother. "Look how beautiful. Oh, you know what they say, the poison apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Don't you mean the weeds?" Jafar muttered who instantly earned himself a glare.

"Who's the old bat?" someone asked but since Jafar and Evil Queen had gotten into a rather loud argument, it was hard to tell who was speaking.

Mal gave an apologetic glance at Fairy God mother. "This is fairy godmother."

Maleficent took pleasure in seeing the woman again. "Still doing tricks with eggplants?"

Fairy Godmother was falling under the provocation as she moved to be just in front of the camera. "I turned a pumpkin into a beautiful carriage!" she said as if she were trying to convince the teenagers behind her. Out of sheer apology on behalf of their parents, they gave her smiles.

Maleficent had not been done however. "You really couldn't give Cinderella till one A.M.? I mean, really. What, the hamsters had to be back on their little wheels?"

"They were _mice_!" Fairy Godmother almost turned red while the villains laughed in her face. "They were not - they were mice!"

Eventually, Shuriki cut into the laughter with her usual cold voice. "Let us speak to our children you old bat."

Fairy Godmother puffed and stepped to the side, and Shreya slipped in a quiet apology before facing their parents on the screen.

"Hello...mother…" Shreya said, quite nervous.

Shuriki of course spotted such behavior and Shreya watched, with dread, as her mother's face filled with cold suspicion. "I miss you, dear," Shuriki said so cooly that if anyone in Auradon had heard they would've believed the Sorceress was actually kind and nurturing.

Shreya knew better.

"You children are never far from our thoughts," Jafar added.

"How long must Mommy wait to see you, Mal?" Maleficent inquired, following, but failing, Shuriki's act.

Mal glanced at her friends, all of them sharing the same nerve wrecking feelings. "Um, there's a big coronation coming up. I think sometime probably after...that."

" _When_?" came Shuriki's voice again, her dark eyes boring into Shreya's despite being screens.

"F-Friday, 10 a.m," Shreya spoke quietly.

"You sure I can't see you before that?"

"N-no ma'am…"

"Carlos, is that a _dog_?" Cruella had stuck her face in front of the screen. Her hand flew to the fake dog wrapped over her shoulders. "Oh, yes, yes, baby, I do understand. It would make the perfect size for earmuffs. He's the perfect size for a pet!"

Carlos instinctively held onto Dude tighter, as if his mother would climb out of the screen for him. "This dog loves me, and I love him! And F.Y.I, your dog is _stuffed_!"

Cruella had never looked so offended in her life. "Oh!"

"So give it a rest!"

Jafar cackled. "Oh-ho! Burn!"

"Oh! Why don't you go sell a toaster, you two-bit salesman!" Cruella turned on him, starting battle between them.

"People who talk to stuffed animals shouldn't throw stones!"

"Oh, well, people who sell toasters shouldn't use mixed metaphors!"

"Enough!" Shuriki shrieked at the two but neither paid her any attention.

Their children watched dejectedly knowing their briefest attention on them had vanished. They'd forgotten how that felt honestly. In the end, Jay turned the television off.

Fairy Godmother felt pity for them, never having seen such parenting. "I'm so sorry."

"Thanks for the special treat," Jay politely thanked her.

"Of course."

Shreya shook her head and turned to leave. No one wanted to stay there a moment longer.

"M?" Evie quietly spoke. "What do you think our parents are gonna do to us. If we don't pull this off?"

Mal opened her mouth then shut it, thinking on what everyone would like to hear. "I think they will be quietly disappointed in us, but ultimately...proud of us for doing our best."

Shreya stopped ahead and turned sideways, sharing shocked and confused expressions like the rest.

" _Really_?" Jay was the one to break the silence.

"No," Mal didn't hesitate to break the lie. "I think we are definitely goners."

"There's a reason why Shuriki was the last villain to be captured," Shreya informed and started off again.

The rest gulped. Shuriki had managed to defy the Auradons for an extra year or so by cursing and causing chaos in parts of Avalor. She evaded capture and perhaps gave Auradon its last run for their land. Yes, meeting her wrath was not on anyone's list.

~0~

When Sunday rolled by, the whole school was buzzing with parent day preparations. For that day, neither Elle nor Audrey had time to snag insults at the Isle teens as they were head of the preparation committee and were head up to heels in work. When Shreya had woken up that morning, a bit late mind you, she was a bit confused to find Mal and Evie coming into the room already dressed and whatnot.

"Did you guys raid the kitchen without me?" Shreya groggly asked as she climbed out of bed. "Because that's one serious theft I'm committed to." She discovered she absolutely loved macadamian cookies and was not afraid to take some.

"Ha, ha, no," Mal sarcastically swayed her head. "We figured since everyone was busy with Parents' day that we could get a good look at the cathedral where the coronation is going to be."

Shreya was frozen for a minute, part of her bed's spread in her hand. "...and?"

Mal shrugged. "It's big and wide, perfect for our escape. You'll probably be right by the platform where the wand will be so…"

"I have the perfect chance to get the wand," Shreya understood. She went back to doing her bed for the day.

"Exactly," Evie said quietly, both she and Mal matching with nervous looks. It was no longer a secret that the mission hadn't turned out to be their number one desire. However, it wasn't spoken out loud either.

They were villains, after all, plotting and stealing is what they did. It was in their _blood_.

~0~

Shreya tugged on her turquoise skirt on their way to the school gardens. She was sure that the same skirt - a high-low skirt - had fit her just fine on the Isle. Then again, on the Isle their meals were scarce and not as delicious...which meant a lot of less amount of 'snacks'. No matter, she'll just have to ask Evie to make the adjustments for her. There was no way in hell she was giving up the snacks.

"Stop tugging," Evie scolded but all Shreya did was move on to fix her purple buttoned-up blouse tucked underneath her skirt. "What is wrong with you!?"

Shreya groaned. There wasn't anything wrong with her, at least not that she could voice out. Fortunately, or unfortunately, her friends thought they did.

"We're surrounded by everyone who despises us," Jay said.

"And now with their parents," Mal had added once she began spotting a few familiar faces amongst the crowd from a stone balcony.

"Snow White," Evie couldn't help glower. "She's the one who took my Mother's grimoire you know."

"We know," Mal, Jay and Carlos groaned with exhaustion.

"There's Cinderella, Evie," Shreya pointed to the bright blonde in the crowd, believing that would cheer Evie up a bit.

"Hey guys," Jane startled the group from behind. She smiled widely despite the clear shock on her friends' group. She wore a cute little lavender, polka-dotted, dress. Her curly hair was pulled into a half up and half down style.

"Jane, why aren't you down with the others?" Carlos pointed at the group of Auradon students centered at the head of the garden. It appeared they were going to do a little show in a bit.

"Oh, Audrey said I wasn't needed for their show," Jane said, rather disappointed.

The group exchanged looks. Figured Audrey would pull something like that. Still, Jane put on the same cheerful smile Fairy Godmother face often put on. She led them down into the actual garden just as the Auradon students started their show.

' _Ma chere mademoiselle, it is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight.'_

"That's adorable," Shreya remarked at the procession. They were singing the same song that had once been sang to Belle by the Beast's workers (then house pieces).

"Yeah," Jane agreed, and it was clear as day to the group that she would have loved to participate in the song.

Almost everyone they knew was in on it - Elle, Lonnie and Audrey were the lead girls of course with Ben as the head of it all. Chad and Doug flanked him, and Mal had pointed out that Princess Merida's son - the same boy who the group swore had a crush on her - was just behind them.

' _And now we invite you to relax.  
Let us pull up a chair, as the dining room proudly presents your dinner…'_

In that moment, Shreya had never thought that Ben had looked as charming as he did now. She soon wondered where that came from...and decided she wouldn't like to know.

Jane excused herself to meet with her mother, and left the group just by the chocolate fountain. Seeing that glorious thing, Jay and Carlos rushed to try it out. Evie was handed Dude and despite her curiosity, Mal even started eyeing the fountain with a degree of interest.

' _Be our guest, be our guest  
Put our service to the test  
Tie your napkin round your neck, cherie,and we'll provide the rest,'_

Shreya entertained herself deeply with the event. She had never seen so many parents enthusiastic with something their children did. On the Isle she was sure the entire thing would've been laughed at. Here, the effort was appreciated, and loved.

"No! Celia!"

"Ow!" Shreya jumped back when she felt something roll right over her shoe. She cursed Evie for making her wear open-toed heels.

A metal - dog ? - had stopped just beside her, scaring the living crap out of her. A light-skinned, raven-haired girl of about twelve years came scurrying over to Shreya.

"I'm so sorry!" the girl exclaimed and hurriedly picked up the metal tin dog which couldn't be bigger than her forearms. "I guess I still have some glitches to work out."

"Glitches…?" Shreya eyed the dog with mighty confusion. "You mean...you _created_ that?"

The girl nodded her head, seeming quite proud to admit her creation. "Took me a while but I'm almost there. I thought i give it a test drive here, but…"

"I think you need to check the driving gears a bit," Shreya said, wishing she could rub her foot at the moment. The dog may not seem heavy but she was sure her bruise would prove it wrong.

"Yeah, sorry," the girl smiled sheepishly.

Shreya studied the girl a bit and realized that she had not seen this girl at all in Auradon Prep. "Are you new here?"

"Oh, I don't go here!" the girl exclaimed. "I go to a technology academy. But my cousin goes here so my Mom and I came to see her. I'm Isela by the way."

"Shreya," the Isle teen introduced herself as well.

Isela glanced back at the singing procession and smiled softly. "They're really good, huh?"

Shreya looked past Isela and of course smiled like her.

 _Come on and lift your glass  
You've won your own free pass,  
To be our guest,_

"Charming," Shreya settled for, but Isela didn't know she'd only been referring to one specific singer of the group.

 _If you're stressed it's fine dining we suggest,  
Be our guest, be our  
guest, be our guest  
Yeah, yeah, uh, come on  
Be our guest, be our guest,_

 _Come on, come on  
Be our guest!_

The entire crowd cheered for the students once they were done.

"Shreya! Look at these!" Carlos was too excited about the chocolate fountain to care for the singing procession. He was holding chocolate covered strawberries, and Shreya was momentarily taken away when she saw even Mal was trying them out.

"What's wrong with them?" Isela gawked at the teens by the chocolate fountain. Shreya knew that the girl probably wasn't in the loop about Ben's proclamation and Shreya decided that it was better if Isela stayed that way.

Thankfully, Ben came by and deferred any explanation that would have outed the Isle teens. "Shreya," the King-to-be was completely ecstatic, "what did you think?"

"We thought - collectively - that you were all a bunch princes and princesses being your fluffy selves," Shreya responded with a widened smile on the verge of laughter.

"Is that...is that...bad…?" Ben shot the other Isle teens a confused glance. Only Evie gave a somewhat nod to their conversation.

With a laugh, Shreya shook her head. "For you, no. I've grown accustomed to your princely ways."

This time it was Ben who had a laugh. Hearing his name being called by their family's photographer, he knew he had to leave again. "I will be back as soon as possible, okay?" Shreya was in the middle of nodding when Ben swooped down and stole a kiss from her. Although startled, Shreya smiled like only a smitten girl would.

Isela reminded of her presence as soon as Ben was gone. She was gaping with a mouth open. "I didn't know Prince Ben wasn't dating Audrey anymore." Shreya was then fairly amused when Isela stomped her foot much like a child would. "Sometimes it sucks not coming to Auradon."

"You don't go to do Auradon?" Mal had finally torn her attention from the chocolate fountain and walked over to the two with a half-eaten chocolate covered strawberry in her hand.

Isela shook her head and motioned to her dog still in her arms. "My mom created a technology academy and since I'm really good - or at least I like to think I'm good - at making stuff, I go there instead."

"But you're like...ten," Mal gave Isela a brief look over.

"I'm twelve," Isela shrugged her shoulders, apparently not at all offended by the assumption. "I'm only a year older than my Mom was when she started to invent stuff. Did you know that she invented a portable wardrobe powered by an exercise bike when she was just eleven years old?"

"No. But I bet Audrey has," Mal rolled her eyes.

"Shreya!" they heard Ben calling from the photographer's place.

"Uuh…" Shreya had gone pale-faced when she realized Ben wanted her to meet with him and his parents.

Evie gave an innocent push forwards and earned herself a rather mean look in return.

"Shreya!"

With a sigh, Shreya moved and met Ben halfway. "What are you…?"

"I wanna introduce you to my parents," he said like it was obvious, and really it had been. He took her by the hand and walked them back to his parents.

"Believe me I think they know enough about me," Shreya mumbled under her breath. Neither the Queen nor the King seemed to be having a better time than Shreya.

"This is Shreya. From the Island. My girlfriend." Ben was still smiling incredibly happy, making Shreya wonder how the hell he managed to do that. It must be an Auradon thing.

"Hi," Shreya gave a meek wave of her hand.

"I was thinking maybe she can join us for lunch," Ben said, but Shreya wished he would stop talking already.

"Of... course," Queen Belle said, her face still trying to claim its calmness again.

"Um, I actually came with my friends," Shreya quickly inputted. If she was going to have to spend time with the Queen and King then she woul not do it alone. It sort of went like the 'If I go down you all go down with me', but in this case she was doing it for support.

"Well, you should invite them," the King automatically said. "Because the more the merrier!"

"Yeah, I'll go grab them," Shreya pointed back and silently thanked for the opportunity to leave.

"Uh, how about a game of croquet before lunch?" the King stopped her from leaving, along with Ben.

"Huh? Of course…" Shreya nodded.

"Game on," the King said for Ben's case, the two joining fists.

"Game on!" Ben exclaimed and turned himself and Shreya around to get the rest of their friends. As they walked, Ben had the idea to inquire over Shreya's status in 'croquet'. "Have you played before?"

Shreya unceremoniously snorted. "You _do_ know the story of the Queen of Hearts, right?"

"Right, right, so you do."

"Well yeah, but if no one's threatening to cut my head off I'm going to be playing for real!"

"Wait, that's real?" Ben stopped for a moment. "She actually...you know...did the thing with the 'off with their head!'?"

"Oh yeah. She's done it for real," Shreya nodded fast and laughed at Ben's reaction.

His eyes widened to the impossible. The Queen of Hearts was definitely not a woman he would like to meet in his lifetime.

~ 0 ~

Croquet indeed turned out to be a little more fun when someone wasn't threatening to have your head at each round. Although for some - say a boyfriend who was interested in holding onto a girlfriend - the game wasn't as much fun.

"Ha, I win," Shreya laughed when she'd made another score.

Ben groaned and moved beside her, actually looking offended. "C'mon!"

Shreya laughed at him. "Aw, is someone mad I'm beating them? I had my fair practice with the Queen of Hearts' daughter. I beat her ass at every round."

"When you say 'beat' do you mean like a _clean_ game, or…?"

Shreya mocked an offended gasp, even putting a hand on her chest. "Are you accusing of me cheating?"

Ben gave a tilt of his head, now smirking, and neared Shreya. "You _are_ from the Isle, remember?"

"Mhm…" Shreya matched his smirk with her own.

"And let's be honest, your definitions of 'fun games' does include a lot of cheating…"

"If you don't quit I might just hit you over the head with this mallet," Shreya warned in a highly sarcastic manner.

"I've got a better idea of what we should do..." Ben didn't hesitate to kiss her there and then.

But before Shreya could truly enjoy the kiss - because she really was beginning to enjoy them - something quite heavy rolled over her feet again. "Not again!" Shreya instinctively pulled away and hissed at the pain she now felt on her toes.

Ben was nearly trampled over by the actual dog of the school, Dude, who was chasing after the tin dog. "What the…?" Ben truly had no words for that.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Isela came running towards the two, along with Carlos.

"Dude won't let it go!" Carlos complained to Isela, without properly knowing the girl.

"Isela…" Ben had grabbed the tin dog before Dude could efficiently try to bite it, "...is this really yours?"

Isela sheepishly nodded her head. "Y-yes. I-I made it...but it doesn't work that well yet. I thought I c-could try it out h-here…"

"Yeah, it seems to have a love for my feet," Shreya threw her a mock glare.

"They are lovely feet," Ben said first and foremost, causing Shreya to roll her eyes. He then handed the tin dog to Isela. "And this is a grand creation, Isela. You're amazing. Just like your mother."

Isela's face completely lit up at the praise. "Thank you, Prince Ben!"

Ben chuckled. "You know you can just call me by my name, right?"

Isela sheepishly nodded. "Isela, you want to play a round?" Shreya decided to ask, figuring the girl could use a break from her 'creations'.

"I've never played before," Isela admitted.

"We can teach you. Carlos, take care of the tin dog," Shreya snapped her fingers. Carlos scowled.

"Her name is Celia," Isela didn't hesitate to hand over her tin dog to Carlos. "And you should probably keep it off."

With a grumble, Carlos stalked off with the tin dog and Dude behind him.

"I'll go get a mallet," Isela exclaimed and rushed off.

Shreya smiled as she watched Isela go off. "Where's she from, Ben?"

Ben innocently looked away. Shreya would have noticed his nervous, shifting, expressions if she hadn't been taken away by a fashionable girl across the garden playing croquet as well.

"Who is _that_?" she couldn't help laugh.

"Hm?" Ben followed her gaze to the girl Shreya was talking about. Said girl was playing a round of croquet with Jane, but what probably took Shreya away was the odd, colorful hat sitting on top of the stranger girl's head matching her oddly colorful clothing. "Oh, that's Hallie." Shreya gave a questioning look in return. "The Mad Hatter's daughter, you know-"

Shreya had gasped, going as far as letting her mallet drop to the ground. For a minute, Ben thought she was scared or angry...but then Shreya had started giggling like never before. It shocked Ben because this was the lightest, warmest Shreya had ever been.

"What? What is it?" he reached for Shreya's arm.

"I-is she, you know, from like...the whole _Wonderland_ place…?" Shreya was expressing a giddy smile, her hand latching onto Ben's arm for a minute. "W-w-ith the...the talking fl-flowers and...the cat! The Cheshire cat!" she covered her mouth, squealing excitedly.

"Who are you and what have you done with Shreya?" Ben was in the mixture of confusion and amusement.

"You don't understand," Shreya dropped her hands, sobering from her smiling, "Wonderland has always sounded like...the right sort of crazy I have wanted to see. It's probably one of the few places I've ever been truly curious of in Auradon."

"Really?" Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Mhm," Shreya nodded. "Oh my God, Wonderland! Is that place real? Could I see it? Like properly see it with my own eyes?"

"Yes, it's in our forest just between Auradon City and Camelot."

"Oh my God," Shreya threw her head back laughing.

"Would you like to meet Hallie? She's actually really nice - albeit a bit...cooky," Ben said, reaching for one of Shreya's hands.

"No way, she probably hates my guts too," Shreya shrugged. "But just promise me you'll show me pictures of Wonderland, alright?"

"I've got a better idea - we could visit soon," Ben grabbed her other hand and pulled her up to him. "I could show you the singing flowers...the Cheshire cat might be a bit trickier to see. He lives to be mischevous."

"I know a thing or two about that," Shreya cheekily said. "Could I see the Queen of Hearts' castle?"

"Yeah, I'm sure we could open it up again," Ben nodded his head. "I could set it up all nice for you."

Shreya smiled softly, taking a good moment to look at him. "You are nothing of how I imagine you would be, you know that?"

"I dread to think what you thought of me before on the Isle…"

"Oh, um, something along the lines of preppy...goody goody...know-it-all ...clueless… naive, a bit-"

"Okay!" Ben put a hand over Shreya's mouth. "I got it."

Shreya snickered.

"I got one! Look!" Isela came running back to them with a mallet in hand. "Is it really alright to play with you two?"

"No problem," Shreya assured, Ben nodding in agreement.

"You already have a partner," Isela shrugged, her eyes scanning the area nearby. "Maybe I should find someone else. Like her," she pointed to someone past them.

Following the finger, they saw it was Mal who was attempting to play. However, there was an elderly, dark-skinned woman nearing the girl. Shreya would have let it slide had it not been for Audrey swinging by.

"YOU!" The elderly woman suddenly shouted, startling everyone nearby. Even Mal had jumped back a bit. "How are you here? And how have you stayed so _young_?"

Ben and Shreya had ran over, along with Isela.

"What did you tell her?" Shreya immediately demanded from Audrey. She assumed Audrey had let some horrible thing slip of Mal and now had the old woman losing it.

"She's her 'grammy'," Mal sourly explained. "And she thinks I'm my Mom."

Shreya shivered. "No…"

"Queen Leah, It's okay. Maleficent is still on the island," Ben hurriedly explained. "This is her daughter, Mal. Don't you remember my proclamation to give the new generation a chance?"

This, however, was still no better than believing Mal was Maleficent. "A chance to what, Ben? _Destroy_ us?" Queen Leah demanded.

"You're Maleficent's daughter?" Isela's eyes widened and were now glued on Mal who shifted uncomfortably in her spot.

"Come on," Queen Leah looked at the others who were gathering nearby. "You remember, don't you? The poison apples. And the spells. Spells. My daughter…" she set a cold, hard look on Mal, "...was raised by fairies because of your mother's curse. So her first words, her first steps, I missed it all!"

"Hey, you're no good yourself lady!" Shreya snapped. "What happened was horrible - I will be the first to admit - but you and the rest of your little Auradon royalty are no better."

"How dare you-"

"No how dare _you_ claim to be all good and mighty when you cast off a whole second generation of children to a an Island to live on _your_ scraps!?"

"Don't speak to my grandmother that way!" Audrey tried to argue but at that moment Shreya's eyes had glowed red, scaring her to silence.

"Shreya…" Ben would have really liked to avoid a confrontation like this but Shreya pushed him away. Evie, Carlos and Jay had hurried over now.

"You punished the culprits, fine, but you sentenced people like me, like Mal, like so many other children to live a life of poverty while your brat of a grandchild lived in a frikin castle with all the commodities children of the Isle could only dream of."

" _You're_ from the Isle too…" Isela stepped back from Shreya.

"Isela! Get away from her!" Elle's sharp voice cut into the mix. She and Chad were hurrying towards them.

"But I-"

"Get away! Now!"

Isela moved to Audrey's side, although she didn't look too happy.

" _Elle's_ your cousin!?" Shreya said in disbelief. She then shot an accusing look to Ben, because she was sure he knew all along and purposely hid it from her.

"My mom's Princess Isabel," Isela said, confused, "Queen Elena's sister and my aunt."

Shreya could not believe her ears. "You're just as bad as they are then," she made it clear for anyone wishing to hear.

Elle blocked her cousin's way. "You are nothing."

"Elle…" Ben pleaded, but Chad cut in next.

"They were raised by their parents, Ben. What do you think villains teach their kids? Huh? Kindness? Fair play? No way, okay? Uh-uh." Chad pointed an accusing finger at Shreya. "You stole another girl's boyfriend!"

"I'll beat you into a pulp," Shreya threatened and moved forwards but Mal latched onto her arm and kept her still.

"You enjoy hurting people!" Chad then accused Jay. "And you-" he settled a condescending look on Evie, "you're nothing but a gold digger and a cheater."

Evie's jaw tightened. She pulled out her miniature magic mirror. " Mirror, mirror, in my hand, who's the biggest jerk in the land?" she flashed it in Chad's face, showing a clear picture of himself.

"What?" Chad tried snatching the mirror from Evie's hand, only mildly pushing her...but it was enough for Jay to get involved.

"Back off!" Jay had pushed Chad backwards.

Chad did not go down easy, which pushed for Evie to pull out her own secret weapon. With the perfume Mal had made, which was a mild sleeping potion, she sprayed it in Chad's face. The blonde collapsed on the ground.

"Chad!" Audrey shrieked. Doug and Lonnie had come over to help Chad off the ground and hopefully to awaken him.

"What the hell is that!?" Elle wasn't even trying to help Chad, far more interested in the perfume bottle. "New spell you got, Mal?" Mal backed away, pulling Shreya with her. "But we can't…"

"Come on, Shreya," Mal tugged harder. The place was no longer safe for them, and above all they took care of their own.

Shreya crossed gazes with Elle and scowled called before following Mal and the others away.

~0~

Later on, the Isle teens had found an area to just take their lunch and inevitably think about the fiasco that happened earlier. They blamed themselves, honestly, for believing this day would turn out any other way than the actual way it did. Everyone acted the way they originally believed they would.

They were villains, after all.

All these thoughts swarmed in each of the Isle teens' heads. Their lunch trays hadn't even been touched. And behind their table stood the very people they were now despising with everything they had...with a few exceptions.

"Hey, guys," Ben thanked his lucky stars he was able to find them so easily. He feared they might have done something on a whim like go back to the Isle or something. "How is everyone?" No one answered him. "Hey, listen. Forget about it. All right? It was nothing. Forget about it. Let it go."

But of course they couldn't. And wouldn't.

"Tomorrow, after the coronation, I promise everything will be okay." He stopped behind Shreya, putting his hands on her shoulders. He leaned down beside and spoke quieter, softer. "I have to go." She gave a brief nod in return. "I'll see you guys later."

"Poor unfortunate soul," Shreya mumbled under her breath. She wished she could think the way Ben did, but that - she assumed - came with living in Auradon. On the Isle you would never hear 'It's going to be okay'.

"Listen, Evie-" Doug crept to their table, and immediately Evie straightened up, "-I wanna talk about earlier today. I just-"

Chad saw the moment and growled. "Doug!"

Evie wished he wouldn't be pulled away from her but also knew the circumstances. "It's my fault, Doug. I'm sorry."

"No, It's mine-"

"Doug!" Chad called, and louder, to where Doug had to give in and turn to Chad.

"What!?"

Chad said no words but motioned Doug to return to their table.

"Doug…" Evie pleaded in vain.

"Sorry, I can't," Doug regretfully returned to the other table, leaving Evie distraught.

"How long does she think that's gonna last?" Audrey came walking around with Elle interlocked by the arms.

"Shreya is just the bad girl infatuation. I mean-" Elle purposely leaned over to Shreya's side, "-he's never gonna make a villain a queen."

Shreya's blood boiled as the two princesses snickered and walked to their own table. Abruptly, she slammed a hand on the table and got uo from her spot, turning to them.

"I don't know who you think you are but you don't know who _I_ am," and on cue, Shreya's eyes flowed threateningly red again. Elle's snicker vanished and her hand flew to her amulet.

"You're villains," Audrey stepped forwards, a condescending look on her face as she stared Shreya up and down. "You're nothing but evil and disappointments."

Mal then got up with her spell book in hand. "And a villain always knows when to stand with their own. We've got a code, interested in knowing it?"

Audrey raised an eyebrow, apparently deeming the threat as trash. However, Evie, Jay and Carlos stood up as well and moved around the table to stand on either side of Shreya and Mal. The five teens of the Isle stood in a perfect line, standing against those of Auradon.

"And with a spellbook we could have some fun," Mal smirked. "The sleeping perfume drought was only a brief snippet of what we can do but I promise there's a lot more where that came from." There was a flicker of panic on Audrey's face, even Elle's, when Mal opened up her spell book and started skimming for an appropriate spell.

"Oh Mal-" Shreya spoke up darkly, "-in one of my looks at the spellbook I saw something about a body-boil curse?"

Mal's face lit up with malice. "Fantastic!"

"Page 46, bottom right corner."

Those were the magic words to get every last Auradon student running away from them. No one said it but there was feeling of satisfaction watching the Auradons run away from them like that. It just have felt like their parents always told them it would.

"I didn't know you could do that with your eyes," Mal glanced at Shreya, watching to see if her eyes would glow red again. "What are you? Part Dragon too?"

Shreya laughed. "No idea. It just comes and goes I suppose. But I bet when I get my hands on that wand I'll know exactly what it's good for."

A matching smirk spread across each of their faces.

"You know, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow," Mal said to her friends. "Let's grab that wand and blow this Popsicle stand."

" _Literally_ ," Jay laughed.

The five Descendants agreed and simultaneously strode away.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I, personally, loved this chapter. Yall caught those little Elena of Avalor references? Princess Isabel is actually an inventor in the show - or she tries to be - and the girl's only 11 years old...and she built the portable wardrobe thing! Also, I decided to take out Jane as the one who says 'he'll never make a villain a queen' because it just didn't feel right with the way she's been portrayed so far. I feel like she has a closer relationship to the group than in the movie.

Also, I'm so excited (again lol) because I just finished writing the second story - covering Descendants 2 - and I'm thinking of going for the 3rd one? I want to go into the book plot lines but also some of my own? Whaddya guys think?

 **For the Reviews:**

I mean, Auradon looks awesome but I definitely feel like there's some two-faces around there. At least on the Isle if someone hates you they'd tell you. No secrets at all lol.

Yeah, I think above all Mal just really wants to make her mom proud and she can't do that unless she's truly evil. And since the girls basically share the same problem, Mal wants to help Shreya out. It might not be the best methods but in Mal's perspective, she's doing Shreya a favor.

Yes, sorry for the lateness in updating! I've got finals going on and packing to do, and applications for classes - it's all just a big mess! But I hope you liked this new chapter!

* * *

You guuuuuys...there's only 3 chapters left in this story. Well, it's technically 2 but since the last chapter is just for Set it Off I count them as 3! Can you believe that!?

As always, thank you for reading! Leave a thought if you'd like! :)


	12. The Fight for the Wand

On the Isle, Shuriki had successfully pulled Maleficent to the side while the rest of the villains eagerly awaited a glimpse of their children on the television. Maleficent growled as she was forced to enter conversation and _not_ watch her daughter pull what would probably become the most legendary robbery in all of Auradon.

"This better be good, Shuriki," she warned the sorceress with a black nail pointed her way.

Shuriki ignored the threat with a casual roll of her eyes. "You should be honored I'm giving you this opportunity, Maleficent. I always felt that out of every villain in Auradon _you_ were the only one to be on my level."

"You mean _you_ were on _my_ level," Maleficent gently corrected though her smile was tight with warnings. She passed a hand over her sceptor and motioned Shuriki to go on and say whatever she was going to say. They could both hear Snow White giving the report on the coronation.

"I have a secret agenda that I'm sure you'll like to hear about," Shuriki began and was unusually quiet. Maleficent noticed it and cast a glance back at their villain roommates. "I appreciate the others but in this case you and I are better off alone...at least until we each have what we want."

"And what exactly do _you_ want?" asked Maleficent.

"My wand back. I could care less about Fairy Godmother's wand," Shuriki made sure to leave clear. "I only want Fairy Godmother's wand to break open my own from wherever it's stored at. Afterwards, I don't care where Fairy Godmother's wand ends up at."

"But _I_ do," Maleficent's voice rose suddenly. "That wand is the key to getting Auradon back!"

"Maybe for you, but for a Sorceress like myself, I require my own wand to fulfill my desires. In order to destroy Avalor I need to use my own magic. And this is where I strike a deal with you," Shuriki stepped closer so that any possibility of being overheard diminished. "I know that once this barrier is broken you're going to leave all of us here-" a smug smirk spread across Maleficent's face, "-and you're not going to look back. Without my wand, I can't leave this place so I need to hitch a ride with you."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because in return for the ride, my wand can be connected to Fairy Godmother's and we could create the two most powerful wands in all of Auradon," Shuriki knew she had gotten Maleficent's attention then.

"Mm, and what if I go and take your wand instead?" Maleficent couldn't help herself from thinking.

"It wouldn't work," Shuriki was glad to declare. Maleficent's smirk fell off her face. "The wand, just like my daughter's, only answers to an owner related by blood. It's a fail-safe, you see. Only I can use my wand and create the link."

"Smart," Maleficent, annoyed, sighed. "I suppose we have a deal, then."

"I thought we would," Shuriki cast one more look at their roommates before adding, "And, just so there's no surprises that can lead to defeat, I'm going to confide one more little secret with you..."

~ 0 ~

It was a grand day in Auradon for a new King was to be crowned. Cheers rang in every corner of the land but even that was not enough to lighten Shreya's mood. Her heart felt as if it was being squeezed with such incredible guilt she felt. She was sure her mother, wherever she was on the Isle, was watching her through a television making sure everything was going according to plan.

Unfortunately, everything _was_ going according to plan.

"Don't be nervous," Ben said, bringing Shreya out of her thoughts. She turned her head in his direction and managed a small smile. "All you have to do is sit there and look beautiful. No problem there."

Shreya blushed and looked down at her hands over her lap. The turquoise gown Evie had designed for her was a puffy one and it semi hid the small box she was cradling. So far, the carriage they were riding in hadn't managed to knock the box out. "Can't say I ever saw this coming..." she said what she thought had been in a quiet tone.

"What?"

"I'm pretty sure my Mom is blowing a fuse somewhere on the Isle because I look too much like a princess."

"I don't think you look like a princess," Ben said, dead serious. Shreya's eyes widened a bit with looming pain until he elaborated. "I think you look like you, Shreya. Neither a princess nor a villain but just... _you_."

Shreya stared at him for a long minute before smiling. "So, is there just some like...poetic class every person has to take here or...are you just naturally good with words?"

"Well I _am_ about to be crowned King so being good with words is sort of a requirement," Ben chuckled.

"...I think you would make a really good King, Ben," Shreya said with nothing but honesty. Ben just didn't know she lamented the fact because of what was going to go down later. "You're kind, you're _very_ kind. I mean, you decided to give people like me a chance that...not even your father ever thought of. Thank you, Ben, really. And...I'm sorry."

"You're sorry for what?" Ben asked, just a tad confused over the last part.

Shreya wished with all her heart that she could explain it but instead she gave a light smile. "Just...for all the trouble we are."

"Nah, you're not trouble," Ben reached for her hand and rubbed a thumb over her fingers. "Listen, Shreya...would you...wear my ring?"

Shreya gave off a small gasp when he raised his golden beast ring for her. That would just be utterly cruel for her to accept it. "U-um...maybe not right now? Um...I just...I think it would probably fall right off me with everything that's going to happen."

"Right," Ben agreed and desisted on the idea, but he made a mental note to ask again after the coronation.

Shreya looked down at the box in her lap and bit her lip, nervous of course. "I have something for you too."

"For me?" Ben gazed at the box she was now holding to him. He'd been wondering what was inside but hadn't asked out of politeness. He took the box into his hands and opened the lid to find a small chocolate muffin inside.

"It's for later," Shreya explained. "I'm pretty sure this coronation thing is gonna be long and you might get hungry. I know how much you like ice cream so it may or may not have an ice cream filling. Don't worry, it's spelled so that it won't melt."

"And you made this?" Ben blinked.

"Oh God no!" Shreya was quick to shake her head. "I'm a disaster for cooking so I had Mal to help." Ben laughed and dropped the muffin in, prompting Shreya to panic. "No, wait!"

"This is really good!" Ben savored the ice cream filling which turned out to be mint-chocolate.

Meanwhile, Shreya was deeply panicking now. She was sure if Mal didn't get her for ruining the plan, Shuriki would. "D-do you...do you feel any...different? Like...would you say that you're still in... that... that you have very strong feelings for me?"

Ben was finishing up chewing the last bits of the muffin. "I'm not sure. I mean, let's give the anti-love potion a few minutes to take effect."

And because Shreya was so lost, she agreed. "Yeah, okay..."

 _Wait..._

Shreya's head snapped in his direction again. "Wait, what!?" Ben could not take her face and laughed again. "You _knew_!?"

"That you spelled me? Yeah. Yeah, I knew for a while now!"

 _Now I'm dead_ , Shreya thought. "Ben, I-I can explain myself. I was just...I didn't even want to do it! I told Mal no but she tricked - as usual I'm that gullible so maybe it kind of _is_ my fault but-"

Ben stopped her with a surprise kiss. Shreya blinked and, of course, turned red. He once again took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It's fine. In her own way, Mal was just trying to help. I was with Audrey and you didn't trust that it could happen on its own. Am I right?"

"R-right..." Shreya agreed. "So, then, how long have you known?"

"Since our first date. Your spell washed away in the Enchanted Lake."

" _That_ long?" Shreya gaped. "So you've just been...faking it since then?"

Ben looked at her with confusion. "I haven't been faking anything."

"M-me neither..." Shreya felt confident in her statement. "Believe me, if there is one real thing in all this it's my feelings for you. Remember that, okay? Please."

Ben had no idea what meaning her words held but with what he thought made him happy. He held their interlocked hands and gave hers a kiss.

~ 0 ~

From inside the cathedral, the group of Isle teens looked over the balcony to see Audrey and Elle conversing. They were probably the closest to the platform where Ben was to be crowned.

"She's going back to her family," Evie said when Elle began walking back to her Avalorian family. "It's now or never, Mal."

"Definitely now," Mal looked to Jay and held her hand out. Jay had hidden her spell book in his jacket and was glad to hand it over. Elle was finally going to pay for her insults and threats. That was the only thing they weren't going to be sorry for doing.

"For every threat she makes, if the situation is dire, make her feel on _fire_!" Mal was careful to chant the spell quietly so that no one would hear. Evie, Jay and Carlos gathered around her so that no one saw her cast the spell down below.

Elle never noticed the stream of green hit her on her back.

Mal then slapped her spell book shut and looked at her friends with a gleeful smile. "And that's the end of Elle."

~ 0 ~

When the coronation finally began, Shreya had taken the spot between Audrey's and Elle's family and only had Jane as company. Everyone else still refused to speak with Shreya and her friends except for Jane.

 _Still the only real person here_ , Shreya thought while she glanced at Jane.

The front doors opened up, pulling everyone's attention to Ben who begun to make his way down the aisle towards the platform. Everyone did a courteous bow as Ben passed them, including Shreya (though she received an extra smile from Ben that no one else did).

King Beast, Queen Belle and Fairy Godmother awaited for Ben at the platform. Fairy Godmother unveiled her wand sitting perfectly inside a glass casing. Shreya involuntarily gulped at the sight of it. She was sure her mother was already shouting at the television screen for her to grab the thing already. Ben stood just before the steps of the platform and got down on one knee to receive the blessing of the wand.

Fairy Godmother came down the steps and pointed her wand to Ben's left shoulder. "Do you solemnly swear to govern the peoples of Auradon with justice and mercy as long as you shall reign?"

"I do solemnly swear," Ben dutifully responded.

Fairy Godmother smiled and tapped her wand over his shoulder before moving it to his right. "Then it is my honor and my joy to bless our new king-" but before the coronation could truly end, someone snatched it right off her hand.

The entire crowd went through gasps of shock when they saw none other than...

...Elle raising the wand high in the air.

Whispers were quick to arise but no one was more confused than Elle's family.

"Elle, what do you think you're doing?" Queen Elena of Avalor stepped forwards. Her jaw was tight and her dark eyes were boring onto her daughter. "Return the wand-"

Elle rolled her eyes and gave a thrust of her hand upwards to release a thunder-like stream of energy that broke through the cathedral's ceiling and directly cracked the Isle's barrier. From the balcony, the Isle teens moved into a run. Something was going wrong and they needed to stop it!

"Elle, what are you doing?" Ben took a step towards her but Elle was quick to brandish the wand at him.

"I wouldn't move, _your highness_ , _"_ she spat with an unusual coldness in her words. "I've never been able to practice up until now. I don't know what I can do but I'm fairly excited to discover it."

"Child, give me the wand!" Fairy Godmother demanded and held her hand out for her wand.

Elle laughed and used the wand to tap her cheek. "Let's see, I've been planning this ever since I can remember so...no, I don't think I will."

"What are you doing, Elle?" Ben couldn't finish understanding. He could see past Elle that her family, her mother especially, were even more lost than he was.

The front doors opened up again and this time, the Isle teens came running towards them. Mal immediately yanked Shreya behind her so that she was protected. "I'd step away from her, Ben, if I were you," Mal warned.

"What? Why!?"

"Because she's _evil_ ," Evie replied, sending a hard look to Elle.

"I don't...I don't understand..." Queen Elena walked up to her daughter and grabbed her by the arm. "Elle, you must-"

"That is _not_ my name!" Elle snapped and pushed Elena backwards. "My will is for the Avalorian Queen to be _still_!"

Queen Elena was struck with energy that forced her feet to one spot. No matter how much she attempted to move her feet wouldn't respond. "Elle!"

Elle had a short-lived laugh before thunder clapped above and green smoke streamed down. When it dispersed, Maleficent and Shuriki were left standing in its place.

"We're baaaaack!" Maleficent sing-sang to the room. If people had been scared before, now they were terrified...all except for one.

"Hello mother," Elle greeted with the biggest smile anyone who knew her had ever seen.

Shuriki glanced over her shoulder to see the anxious girl holding the wand. She turned around and surprised everyone when she genuinely smiled for the first time. "Hello...Shreya."

Shreya, who was still surrounded by her friends, pushed Mal to the side to get up ahead. "WHAT!?" her loud voice pierced through the moment.

Elle's smile vanished the moment she laid eyes on her. "You will take my place no longer you fake!"

"Excuse me?" Shreya could only blink despite being threatened. Elle pulled her amulet off her neck and threw it at Shreya, the latter yelping as it merely hit her shoulder without actual harm. "What the hell is going on!?"

"Are you that big of an idiot that you can't figure out you're not actually Shuriki's daughter?" Elle's words were covered in frost meant to wound Shreya. "I was only six when I learned the truth and even I understood it. It's a shame you got the Avalorian trait of stupidity when you were surrounded by the greatest villains and minds!"

"Wh-what...?" Shreya felt her nearly stop but when she looked at Shuriki she could see nothing but contempt for her.

It made sense. The times where she believed Shuriki actually hated her...were true. Shuriki _did_ hate her and now Shreya knew why: she wasn't actually Shuriki's daughter. Somehow, she'd been cast to the Isle under the guise of Shuriki's daughter and forced to live like a villain.

"That's why you were a bitch all the time," Mal wasn't going to play nice anymore now that she knew the truth. "You were away from 'Mommy' all the time."

"I was away from my true people!" Elle snapped and pointed the wand at Mal, not that the purple-haired girl cared much.

"Put the wand down little girl," Maleficent was the one to speak up. She threatened her scepter at Elle and glanced at Shuriki. "I don't care if this girl is your daughter or not, I want the wand and I want it now."

"Give me the wand," Shuriki demanded from Elle and was not questioned. Elle handed the wand over and watched as Shuriki waved it in the air, using her own magic to call upon another wand.

Shuriki's wand flew directly into her hand, and the second wand - put back together - landed in Elle's palm. "Finally!" Shuriki exclaimed and had no problem handing over Fairy Godmother's wand to Maleficent. "Now you will all pay! Starting with you!" she turned to Queen Elena.

"How could you switch two children!?" Queen Elena struggled in her frozen spot. "Your own child!"

"I told you I had the last laugh. I did the sacrifice I had to," Shuriki replied calmly. "When I saw that my defeat was inevitable, I made the sacrifice of leaving my child behind so that one day, she could bring me back."

"I heard the message you left me," Elle said softly. "Your voice...it rang in my head when I was a child. It told me who I was, and where I came from. And it took me a while but I finally was able to do it."

"It's why you were so on board with bringing children of the Isle..." Ben finally realized.

Elle smirked at him. "And I played my part just right. I thought you would almost heed my warning and send them back. That would've been troublesome."

"But why bring me, then?" Shreya asked. "Why bring me into it if I could just stop you?"

"Because I wanted to meet the girl who took my place. I wanted to destroy you and finally reclaim my name. And it looks like now I'll be able to do it," Elle raised her wand at Shreya. "You never got to be the real villain and yet you were never a hero either. Goodbye."

But just when energy fired off Elle's wand, something happened. The energy zapped out of existence but Elle screamed like she'd been the one hit. She fell to her knees, clutching herself and letting her wand roll on the ground.

"What's happening!?" Shuriki blinked and rushed to help her daughter.

Mal smirked. "My own little spell, that's what. It prevents Elle from hurting Shreya."

"The fire spell," Maleficent gawked with true pride. "Oh, I am so proud of you, Mal!"

Mal's smirk faded at her mother's words. "I didn't do it to be evil, mother. I did it to protect my friend."

Shreya spared her friend a soft smile. "Thank you."

Elle screamed in pain and nothing Shuriki did - even with her wand - could stop it. Furious, Shuriki turned on them. "Reverse the spell! REVERSE IT!"

"Sorry," Mal turned her hands over and shrugged. "I'm still learning the book. I don't know the reverse spell."

Shuriki looked ready to explode. "Then I will have your head!" she raised her wand in the air. "I will have everyone's head!"

"You will not touch my daughter!" Maleficent warned her.

"Then we are enemies after all," Shuriki had no hesitation to fire at her.

"Mom!" Mal exclaimed but was pulled out of the way by Shreya.

Maleficent growled, her eyes glowing a dangerous green. "Don't play this game with me, Shuriki. I'm the Mistress of Darkness, don't you forget!"

"And I'm the most powerful Sorceress, don't _you_ forget!"

The two women entered a battle of magic by the wands. Everyone around had to duck and move around to avoid being hit. Elle, still screaming on the ground, barely managed to avoid one of the zaps.

"You both have to STOP!" Mal scream managed to freeze the two women for a second. "Mom...you don't have to do this."

"Of course I do, honey. Once Shuriki is out of the way, you and I can finally begin our plans for Auradon," Maleficent smiled sweetly. "In fact!" she waved around Fairy Godmother's wand and, before anyone could do anything, she froze everyone except herself, Shuriki and the teens. Even Elle had been frozen in her agonizing pain. "I can't have everyone moving around when I only want Shuriki right now."

"You're delirious if you think you can catch me," Shuriki condescendingly gazed at her. "Don't forget I'm the last villain captured. Even you weren't smart enough to avoid being caught."

"No, stop!" Mal once again cut in. "Mom, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but...you're better than Shuriki. I mean, you may be cold and distant but I know that you'd protect me. You wouldn't switch me for another kid." She glanced at Shreya, the girl disheartened with the truth. "And that's why you can stop all this."

"Mal, what are you saying?" Maleficent crinkled her nose in obvious disgust. "Have these Auradon princesses clouded your mind? You are better than these people, all of them..." she said directly to Mal's friends. "You're not the one who fell in love with a prince," she spat for Shreya. "You're not weak like them. It's definitely not what you want."

"You don't know what I want," Mal said in frustration. "Mom, have you ever once asked me what _I_ want? I'm not you!"

"Oh, obviously. I've had years and years and years and...years of practice being evil. You'll get there."

"No, she won't," Shreya finally spoke up. Her eyes were glistening with tears but she would not let her friend be drowned in evil again. "Because thank God she is _nothing_ like _you_. She's got a twisted perspective but she's not evil. None of us are," she glanced at Evie, Jay and Carlos. "And I'll have you know love is not weak. It's pretty damn amazing."

Maleficent rolled her eyes. "Shuriki, on second thought, take care of that girl and then you and I can duel like respectable villains."

"And now I command, wand to my hand!" Mal quickly said and took the wand away from Maleficent. "Ha! It worked!"

"I hardly think so. Frankly, this is tedious and very immature. Give me the wand. Give me the wand!" Maleficent shouted but Mal did no such thing.

"Hold on, Mal. Maybe good really is more powerful than evil," Carlos spoke up after he recalled several lessons bearing the same theme. "Try it."

"Oh, please!" Shuriki laughed at them then attempted to fire upon Shreya. The girl jumped to the side and her friends to the other.

Maleficent took the distraction for her own gain. She changed into her much more powerful version: her famous dragon form. Mal had never seen her mother in that form and was frozen to her spot. Thankfully, Carlos and Jay pulled her down the aisle when Maleficent began to chase them for the wand.

"It's just you and me, darling!" Shuriki warned Shreya on the ground. "I've always wanted to put you in your place and now I can finally do it!"

Shreya turned her head up. "You think I'm afraid of you? Not a chance!" she swiped her arm and knocked Shuriki on the ground. She then jumped up and started running but tripped over something a couple feet away. When she looked around she spotted the Avalorian amulet Elle had thrown earlier.

 _If you're an Avalorian, then..._ Shreya blinked. She snatched the amulet off the ground and, when it didn't burn her like Shuriki once assured her it would, she knew what she could do with it.

"It's the end of the line for you, Elle!" Shuriki maliciously laughed and fired with her wand again. Shreya held the amulet like a shield and fired her own attack, a stream of red energy, that met Shuriki's halfway.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Isle teenagers were still running away from Maleficent.

Evie was the first to stop and she brandished her magic mirror at the dragon. "Magic mirror, show your bright light!"

The light stunned Maleficent for a second but she swiped at Evie. Mal yanked her down just in time. "Everyone, behind me!" Mal then ordered as she faced her mother. "Leave my friends alone! This is between you and me, mother!" the dragon came to a stop when it saw the familiar green glow in Mal's eyes. "The strength of evil is good as none, when stands before four hearts as one. The strength of evil is good as none, when stands before four hearts as one. The strength of evil is good as none, when stands before four hearts as _one_!"

Maleficent seemed once again stunned in place but in the next minute she was surrounded by green smoke. What was left in her place was a tiny lizard. At the same time, Fairy Godmother came out of the frozen trance. She saw the teenagers crowded around one lizard and then saw Shuriki and Shreya still fighting.

"What just happened!?" Mal was severely lost.

"Did you do it?" Evie inquired.

Fairy Godmother came running towards them to explain. "No, no, no, no. Your mother did," she told Mal. "She shrank to the size of the love in her heart. That's why It's so itty-bitty."

"Oh..." Mal didn't have much time to process when she heard the struggling grunts of Shreya nearby. She picked up the lizard into her hands and rushed towards Shreya with the others behind.

"You think you can stop me, little girl?" Shuriki laughed at Shreya, intending on minimizing her confidence in order to finally win. "You? The villain who's not really a villain and yet not a hero either? You'll never fit in anywhere! I can promise you that!"

"I...fit in...just...fine!" Shreya shouted. She knew the trick all too well and promised herself she wouldn't listen to Shuriki. She thought about her friends, knowing they had defeated Maleficent and how they were one step away from happiness. They deserved it. They deserved to be happy and live in a world that was better. She dared to dream it could be a perfect world.

"C'mon, Shreya!" Mal began to cheer. "You can't let her win! She's nothing without that wand!"

"Yeah, she needed her daughter to do her bidding!" Evie added in.

"Clearly, she's not that big of a villain," Carlos dared to laugh a little.

"Show her who's boss!" Jay was the last one to say.

Fairy Godmother picked up her wand from the ground and turned to the teenagers. She was quite proud of what she was seeing. It was definitely the kind of teenagers she knew they could be.

Shuriki began to feel her power weaken as Shreya's stream of energy reached further. "No! You can't!"

"I can!" Shreya smirked and gave off one last round of energy that reached all the way to Shuriki. It wrapped around her in tendrils and began pulling her towards Shreya.

"No! No! What are you doing!?" Shuriki began to panic. "No-" the energy wrapped over her head, preventing any further words to come out.

The energy finished bringing Shuriki to Shreya but Shuriki's entire figure was turned into energy that was sucked into amulet in Shreya's hand. Shreya fell backwards when the energy diminished.

"Okay, what was that!?" Mal said before running towards Shreya with the others.

Fairy Godmother then finally took down the frozen spell. Everyone quickly looked around for the two villains but only saw Elle, now again screaming, on the ground. Fairy Godmother zapped Elle so that she went unconscious.

"Shreya!" Ben ran to Shreya and helped her up to her feet. She was panting like she had just ran a marathon but was otherwise alright.

"It's okay, they're...they're gone..." Shreya leaned on him for support.

"But where...?" Ben looked around and saw Mal motioning the lizard in her hands.

"It's my Mom...apparently..."

"And Shuriki?"

"Um..." Shreya looked at her amulet.

"You trapped her inside the very amulet once used to trap me," Queen Elena moved towards them. Shreya blinked at the woman, no words coming to mind. "Hello there...Elle."

The name was soapy. It wasn't hers and yet...it was.

"It appears we have a lot to discuss," Queen Elena said with a small smile.

"I think we do," Shreya gave a small nod of her head.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I'm baaaaack (literally lmao). I was on vacation with horrible wifi so there was no updating for any of my stories! Additionally for this story, fanfic deleted the last two chapters so I had to literally rewrite this chapter. For that reason, I decided there will be no Set if Off for this story. I'm just tired in general of having to rewrite and stuff. Besides, it's not like there was anything important to add on.

Sooo...I think only one person kind of figured out that our Shreya was not actually Shuriki's daughter - well done! Shuriki was extra bad and switched her own daughter for Shreya! Talk about being a villain, yikes!

There's a sequal to this of course titled: **_The Code._** The story is already posted on my profile so go check it out and see what's happening next with our local baddies and heroes!

 **For the Reviews:**

 ** _lilnightmare17_** : Thank you so much! I hope you liked this last chapter and that you go on and read the next story! :)

 _ **Fading Feathers:**_ Yeeeah I liked writing that part too lmao. Well, I went ahead and started writing the third story that includes the plot of the second book. I thought it would be fun xD. I think Wicked World is like its own separate story because it goes off into different arcs. Well, as far as I know, Shuriki is just a villain from Elena of Avalor. I don't know if they based it off a japanese character, sorry!

 _ **gossamermouse101**_ : Yeah, Shreya is awesome like that xD

 _ **Faby0411**_ : Hmmm...I think your answers were given in this chapter ;)


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